




,^'t^^z_^ 



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AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 



lir^PORT OF THE COUNCIL, 



OCTOBER 22, 1 ,s 7 7 , 



CHAKLES DEAXE 



d2.v3f 



THE CONVENTION OF SARATOGx\, 

1777. 



Lieutenant-general John Burgoyne 



AXD TIIK 



CONVENTION OF SARATOGA 



©ne l^unUretr gears ^qo. 



A Paper read before the Americax Antiquarian Society ox 
THE 22d of October, 1877 ; 



By CHARLES DEANE. 



WORCESTER : 
CHARLES HAMILTON 

1878. 




f5 



THE CONVENTION OF SARATOGA, 



/ / / 



At the annual meeting of the American Antiquarian 
Society, held at Worcester, Massachusetts, on the 22d 
of Octobei-, 1877, the following paper was read as a 
part of the Report of the Council. After noticing the 
principal occurrences which immediately related to the 
Society itself during the previous six months, the writer 
proceeded as follows : — 

Passing from what relates to the immediate concerns of the 
Society itself, I may be permitted now, agreeably to custom, to 
indulge in some historical theme ; for the treatment of which, 
and for the opinions expressed, the writer is alone responsible. 

The nation for the last few years has been passing through 
a series of centennial eras ; and the liistorical events which they 
mark have been commemorated anew, alike by pen and tongue. 
These events, connected with our revolutionary struggle, wit- 
nessed the birth of the nation, and contributed to bring it into 
existence. 

The surrender of Lieutenant-General John Burgoyne, at 
Saratoga, to the army under Major-General Gates, one hun- 
dred years ago last Wednesday, the 17th of October, was the 



6 

gieat event of tlie war. Indeed, Sir Edward Creasy includes 
Saratoga among the fifteen decisive battles of the world, from 
Maratlion to Waterloo. Thougli its influence was not decisive 
in immediately j)Utting a stop to the war, its effects were imme- 
diate in raising the spirits of the nation from despondency to 
hope, in cementing the alliance with France, and impressing 
upon Lord North and his ministry the conviction that their 
policy as regards America had utterly failed. 

The general features of this campaign, and its details from 
its inception to its close, as well as the purposes intended to he 
accomplished by it, are too well known to be delineated here 
anew. They have already been treated by the orators of the 
day on which the Centennial fell, drawing their insi)iration 
from the spot where the capitulation took place. I have not 
therefore chosen these themes for myself at this time. I com- 
mend to those interested a recent Life of Burgoyne, by Edward 
Barrington De Fonblanque, which contributes some new mate- 
rials to the Memoir,* and some interesting details respecting 
the plan of the campaign. " The political object of this plan 
of operations was the disseverance of the New England States 
from the other insurgent colonies, by the introduction of two 
strong military bodies converging upon their centre, and the 
establishment of a chain of posts extending from the Canadian 
frontier to New York." (Fonblanque, 238.) 

There has always been a mystery as to why the American 



*It may be as well liere to assist in consigning to the tomb of the Capulets 
the "piece of idle gossip, originally traceable to no higher source than the loose 
tongue of a jealous woman," though indorsed in one of his ill-natured letters by 
Horace Walpole, that General Burgoyne was the natural son of Lord Bingle^'. 
It seems to be as well known as such a matter can be a subject of knowl- 
edge, tliat he was the son of John Burgoyne, P2sq., and Anna Maria, daughter 
of Cliarles Burneston, of Hackney, co. Middlesex, Esquire ; that he was born 
on the 4th of February, 1722-23, and baptized, on the following day, at St. Mar- 
garet's Church, Westminster. The fact of his having been born in wedlock, 
says De Fonblanque, is beyond all dispute. (Life and Correspondence of tlie 
Right Hon. John Burgoyne, by E. B. De Fonblanque, pp. 4, 5; Colonel Chester's 
Westminster Abbey Kegisters, p. 450.) 



^ > 



minister's instructions to General Bnrgoyne should have 
been positive and without discretion, that is to say, to effect 
a junction with General Howe at Albany, while those to 
liowe were discretionary or equivocal, if not withheld 
altogether. Mr. Fox said, in the House of Commons, "A 
gallant officer sent like a victim to be slaughtered where his 
own stock of personal bravery would have earned him laurels 
if he had not been under the direction of blunderers, was 
too shocking a sight for humanity to bear unmoved. * * 
General Burgoyne's orders were to make his way to Albany, 
there to await Sir William Howe, but General Howe knew 
nothing of the matter." (Ibid., 348). 

The only orders which Howe appears to have received 
upon this point are contained in this casual sentence in Lord 
George Germain's despatch of the 18th of May, 17T7, refer- 
ring to the threatened operations of the American array in 
the south, — "I trust, however, that whatever you may medi- 
tate will be executed in time for you to co-operate with the 
army to proceed from Canada." — A later despatch, says 
De Fonblanque, containing " explicit instructions to Sir 
William Howe as to his cooperation with Burgoyne was 
written, but by one of those shameful acts of official neglect, 
of which our history unfortunately affords but too many 
examples, this document was suffered to be pigeon-holed in 
London, where it was found after the Convention of Sarato- 
ga, carefully docketed, and only wanting the signature of 
the minister."* (Ibid., 232, 233). 



*The mystery respecting these instructions to General Howe, is more partic- 
ularly explained by Lord Shelburne, who, as appears in a recent Life of 
him by Lord E. Fitzmaurice, has left a memorandum on the subject of this 
disastrous blunder made by the American minister, — " The inconsistent orders 
given to Generals Howe and Burgoyne could not be accounted for except in a 
way which it must be difficult for any person who is not conversant with the 
negligence of office to .comprehend. It might appear incredible, if his own 
secretary and the most respectable persons in office had not assured me of the 
fact, and what corroborates it is that it can be accounted for iu no other way." 

Lord George Germain " having among ofher peculiarities a particular aver- 
sion 10 be put out of his way on any occasion, had ari-anged to call at his ofiice 
2 



8 

Lord Mahon observes, that, 

" Of all the events in the American war, the greatest and most 
important, in its resnlts, at least, was Saratoga. Of all the 
men in the American war, the greatest and most important, 
beyond all doubt or parallel, was Washington. Yet these two 
appear wholly unconnected. Washington had nothing whatever 
to do with Saratoga. This I do not here note down in 
disparagement, or as lessening, even in the smallest degree, the 
hero's most just renown, but as evincing one of those apparent 
conti-adictions — one of those deficiences in stage effect — on 
which, more than on any other point, real life will be found to 
differ from fiction — an epic from a history." (Hist, of England, 
VI., 201). 

It is well known that the surrender of Bnrgoyne^s army 
was not unconditional, that is to say, they did not surrender 
as prisoners of war ; but under an agreement with General 
Gates called a " Convention." The sul)stitution of this 
name for "capitulation," tlie term first used in the negotia- 
tion as written out, was at the request of Burgoyne himself, 
in the name of his army, and seems to have been an after- 
thought of his, as I trather from Wilkinson's interesting 
narrative of these events. It has been supposed that Bur- 
goyne was prompted in desiring that the ti-eaty should be 
called a "Convention" by the recollection of the Conven- 
tion of "Closter Seven," twenty years before, in the seven 
years war, which the Duke of Cumberland, and otliers of his 
school, liad always maintained to be wliolly free from the 
shame of a surrender.* The word, I suppose, simply means 
an agreement, and would naturally be chosen by one writing 
in the French language, to indicate a surrender on terms. 
The army of Cornwallis surrendered to Washington by 
virtue of an agreement, or capitulation, or convention, 
tliongh it was not called by the last name. His troops, it 



on his way to the country in order to sign the despatches, but as tliose addressed 
to Howe had not been ' fair copied ' and he was not disposed to be ballced of 
his projected visit into Kent, they were not signed then, and were forgotten on 
his return to town." (Fonb., 233). 
*Mahon, VI., 193. 



9 

is true, siin-endered as prisoners of war, but, nevertheless, 
it was stipulated, that they should so surrender, and that all 
public stores, the military chest, accoutrements, &c., should 
be given up. The Britisli commander desired that his 
troops should be allowed to embark for home, but, Wash- 
ington replied, that that was inadmissible. 

General Burgoyne substantially made his own terms, 
which were most favorable to his army. They were as 
follows : — 

Articles of Convention betioeen Ziieutenant- General Burgoyne 

and Major- General Gates. 

I. 

"The troops, under Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, to march 
out of their camp with the honours of war, and the artillery of 
the entrenchments, to the verge of the river where the old fort 
stood, where the arms and artillery are to be left ; the arras to be 
piled by word of command from their own officers. 

II. 

" A free passage to be gfanted to the army under Lieutenant- 
General Burgoyne, to Great Britain, on condition of not serving 
again in North Amei'ica during the ]>resent contest ; and the port 
of Boston is assigned for the entry of transports to receive the 
troops whenever General Howe shall so order. 

III. 

" Should any cartel take place, by which the army under Gen- 
eral Burgoyne, or any part ot it, may be exchanged, the fore- 
going article to be void as far as such exchange shall be made. 

IV. 

" The army under Lieutenant General Burgoyne to march to 
Massachusetts Bay, by the easiest, most expeditious, and conve- 
nient route ; and to be quartered in, near, or as convenient as 
possible to Boston, that the march of the troops may not be 
delayed when transports arrive to receive them. 

V. 

"The troops to be supplied on their march, and during their 
being in quarters, with provisions, by General Gates's orders, 
at the same rate of rations as the troops of his own array ; and 
if possible the officers' horses and cattle are to be supplied with 
forage at the usual rates. 



10 
VI. 

" All officers to retain theii* carnages, batt-horses and other 
cattle, and no baggage to be molested or searched ; Lieutenant- 
General Burgoyne giving his honour that there are no public 
stores secreted therein. Major-General Gates will of course take 
the necessary jneasures for the due performance of this article. 
Should any carriages be wanted during the march, for the trans- 
portation of officers' baggage, they are, if possible, to be supplied 
by the country at the usual rates. 

VII. 

"Upon the march, and during the time the army shall remain 
in quarters in Massachusetts Bay, the officers are not, as far as 
circumstances will admit, to be separated from their men. The 
officers are to be quartered according to rank, and are not to be 
hindered from assembling their men for roll call, and othei" neces 
sary purpbses of regularity. 

VIII. 

"All corps whatever, of General Burgoyne's army, whether 
composed of sailors, batteau-men, artificers, drivers, independent 
companies, and followers of the army, of whatever counti-y, shall 
be included in the fullest sense and utmost extent of the above 
articles, and comprehended in every respect as British subjects. 

IX. 

"All Canadians, and persons belonging to the Canadian estab- 
lishment, consisting of sailors, batteau-men, artificers, drivers, 
independent companies, and many other followeis of the army, 
who come under no particular description, are to be permitted to 
return there ; they ai"e to be conducted immediately by the 
shortest route to the first British post on Lake George, are to be 
supplied with provisions in the same manner as the other tioops, 
and are to be bound by the same condition of not serving during 
the present contest in North America. 

X. 

"Passports to be immediately granted for three officers, not 
exceeding the rank of captains, who shall be appointed by 
Lieutenant-General Burgoyne, to carry despatches to Sir William 
Howe, Sir Guy Carleton, and to Great Britain by the way of New 
York ; and Major-General Gates engages the public taith that 
these despatches shall not be opened. These officers are to set 
out immediately after receiving their despatches, and aie to travel 
the shortest route, and in the most expeditious manner. 



11 

XL 

"Daring the stay of the troops in Massachusetts Bay, the 
officers are to be admitted on parole, and are to be allowed to 
wear their side arms. 

XII. 

" Should the army under Lieutenant-General Burgoyne find it 
necessary to send for their clothing and other baggage to Canada, 
they ai-e to be permitted to do it in the most convenient manner, 
and the necessary passports granted for that jiurpose. 

XIII. 

" These articles are to be rantually signed and exchanged 
to-morrow morning at 9 o'clock, and the troops under Lieutenant- 
General Burgoyne are to march out of their entrenchments at 
three o'clock in the afternoon. 

(Signed.) "HORATIO GATES, Major-Ge7ieral. 
(Signed.) "J. BURGOYNE, Zieuteuatit- General 

"Saratoga, Oct. 16th, 1777." 

"To prevent any doubts that might arise from Lieutenant 
General Burgoyne's name not being mentioned in the above 
ti-eaty, Major-General Gates hereby declares, that he is under- 
stood to be comprehended in it, as fully as if his name had been 
specifically mentioned. 

"HORATIO GATES."* 

The most iniportant article in the Convention was the 
stipnlation that the captured army, of nearly six thousand 
men, should be allowed free passage to England, on condition 
of not serving again in North America during the then exist- 
ing contest. The port of Boston was assigned for the entry 
of the transports, to receive the troops, whenever General 
Howe should so order. 

General Gates witliout doubt conld liave made better 
terms. If he had insisted on those he originally proposed, 
the desperate condition of Burgoyne's army, as afterwards 
ascertained, would have compelled his compliance. But 
Gates feared the movements of the British, below him, who 
were making some demonstrations on the river, sufficient 



* Wilkinsou's Memoirs,!., pp. 317-320. 



12 

certainly to create alarm ; information had been received 
that forts Clinton and Montgomery had been taken on the 
6th of this month, among his own soldiers, after the 
negotiations had commenced, the rumor had spread that 
a capitvilation was going forward ; so he was anxious to 
bring tlie treaty to a consummation, and the terms of the 
British general were accepted. 

It is well ktiown that this agreement was not kept on 
the part of the United States in one essential particular. 
The troops were not allowed, according to the 2nd article, 
to leave the country, but were kept as prisoners of war. 
This Convention, it will be understood, was a military one, 
made by two commanders, exercising as such powers which 
they clearly possessed, and was entitled, — " Articles of 
Convention between Lieut. -General Burgoyne and Major- 
General Gates." It contained nothing pertaining to civil 
matters, to which in such treaties, objection is sometimes 
made, and it was not conditioned upon a ratification by the 
respective governments. No complaint was ever made that 
either General had exceeded his powers as a military com- 
mander, in making it, and no one has ever contended that 
the Convention in itself, as an agreement, should not have 
been sacredly kept. 

" Ca])itulations for the surrender of troops, fortresses and 
particular districts of country," says Whenton, " fall 
naturally within the scope of the general powers intrusted 
to military and naval commanders. Stipulations between 
the governor of a besieged place, and the general or admiral 
commanding the forces by which it is invested, if necessa- 
rily connected with the surrender, do not require the subse- 
quent sanction of their respective sovereigns. Such are the 
usual stipulations for the security of the religion and privi- 
leges of the inhabitants, that the garrison shall not bear 
arms against the conquerors for a limited period, and other 
like clauses .properly incident to the particular nature of the 
transaction." (Lawrence's Wheaton, 687, 688). 



13 

No one of the early historians of the American war, that 
I have met with, has undertaken deliberately to defend the 
Congress in the course they took. Some have feebly apolo- 
gized for them. Judge; Marshall gives, summarily, a narrative 
of the principal facts, but fails to give a judgment in the 
case, except what the intelligent student may read between 
the lines. Gordon, who was a good collector of facts, and 
quite independent in forming his judgment upon them, 
clearly condemns the Congress. Dr. Palfrey, the latest and 
best historian of New England, in a critical review of Lord 
Mahon's History of England, in the North American 
■Review, for July, 1852, says, — " We think there was mis- 
conduct, we fear there was bad faith, in relation to the 
treatment of the convention troops." On the other, hand, 
Mr. Bancroft, the principal historian in our own day of the 
Kevolution, usually careful in his facts, says that " the 
Convention of Saratoga had been broken by the British at 
the time of the sui'render by the concealment of the public 
chest and other public property of which the United States 
was thus defrauded " (X., 126) ; implying, therefore, that the 
Congress were thereby liberated from any obligations to 
keep the treaty on their part. 

1 propose to examine this question, so far as my limited 
time and space will allow me, by the aid of contemporary 
letters and documents, some of which have never been 
published. 

The Convention was signed on the 16th of October, the 
surrender took place on the 17th. Deputy Adjutant-Gen- 
eral Wilkinson, the principal person employed on the part 
of General Gates, in arranging the preliminaries of the 
treaty, was sent to Congress to notify that body of the 
surrender. He was delayed by ill health and bad weather, 
and only arrived at York, Pennsylvania, where the Congress 
was then sitting, on the 31st of that month. He was eleven 
days from Albany, and iifteen days had elapsed since the 
surrender. No wonder that some waggish member should 



14 

have snirgested that a pair of Sj)nrs be voted to the tardy 
bearer of despatclies. The rninor of tlie surrender had 
preceded Wilkinson, but he bore the official announcement 
in a letter from Gates to Hancock, the President of the 
Congress, dated the day after the surrender.* 

Wilkinson says, that, in the course of his first audience, he 
thouglit he "perceived a disposition in two or three gentle- 
men to derogate from General Gates's triumph. I had been 
questioned as to the practicability of making Bnrgoyne's 
army prisoners of war, and had heard it observed that it 
would have been better for the United States if that army 
had escaped to Canada, where it would have been out • f 
the way ; whereas the Convention would merely serve ; > 
transfer it to Sir William Howe, and bring Burgoync's 
whole force immediately into operation against us on the 
Atlantic coast. As unreasonable as these exceptions wei 
they mei'ited consideration, and I determined to exercise t 
authority General Gates had given mc, and meet them by a 
message to be prepared for Congress, in his name. I con- 
sulted two of my friends, Messrs. Samuel Adams and James 
Lovell, on the subject, to whom I had letters, who com- 
mended the plan, and I made a draft which they entirely 
approved." Having prepared his documents, with the 
returns of the two armies, and of the ordnance and stores 
caplured, Wilkinson again appeared before the Congress on 
the 3d of November, and gave the reasons, already in part 
recited, why General Gates granted such favorable terms to 
General Burgoyne in the capitulation ; and he closed by 



*The rumor of the surrender had for some days preceded the event of the 
capitulation. Timothy Pickering, from the army near PhihKlelphia, writes : — 
" Last Saturday, the 18th instant [Octoher] we received by Express the truly 
great and glorious news of the surrender of General Burgoyne and his whole 
army prisoners of war." Thirteen pieces of cannon were fired. Washington 
issued the following order: " On the 14th instant General Burgoyne and his 
whole army surrendered themselves prisoners of war." (Life of Pickering, L, 
177,178). General Putnam, who was stationed on the Hudson, some distance 
south of Saratoga, at Fishkill, had written to Washington on the IGth that the 
surrender had already taken place. Putnam's information had been premature. 



15 

laying; before tliat body all the documents, thirteen in 
number, relating to the Convention. (Wilkinson's Memoirs, 
I., 332, 333). 

On the day the official despatch of the surrender was 
received, Congress appointed a Committee of three " to 
prepare a recommendation to the several states, to set apart ' 
a day for thanksgiving, for the signal success, lately obtained 
over the enemies of these United States." On the 1st of 
November that Committee reported a recommendation that 
the 18th of Deceml)er be set apart for this purpose, foras- 
much as Almighty God has been pleased " to crown our 
avins with most signal success." On the 4th of November 
; oy resolved, "that a medal of gold be struck under the 
direction of the board of war, in commemoration of this 
e- ent, and in the name of these United States, presented by 
ase President to Major-General Gates." In this resolution 
thev speak of " the honorable and advantageous terms," on 
which the enemy have surrendered themselves to these states. 
This can hardly be regarded otherwise than as a ratification 
in effect of the doings of General Gates. 

In the meantime Burgoyne's army was marcliing, in two 
divisions, across the state of Massachusetts to the neighbor- 
hood of Boston — guarded by a body of troops under the 
command of General Glover — where they arrived about the 
6th of November. The Brunswickers and Hessians were 
quartered in barracks on Winter Hill, and the British on 
Prospect Hill ; and tlie officers were quartered principally in 
Cambridge, but also in the neighboring towns. 

The news of the surrender reached Boston on the 22nd 
of October, five days after the event, and created great 
enthusiasm. Tlie Boston newspapers of the day tell of the 
general joy it occasioned ; of the ringing of bells, firing of 
cannon, and illuminations. " In the evening, our General's 
quarters," writes Heath of himself, " was beautifully illumi- 
nated." But the authorities of the State, wlio had been at 
once notified that the troops were on their waj^ to the 



16 

neighborhood of Boston, began soon to reflect on the serious 
responsibility which would be thrown upon them \)j the 
advent of such a large army, eating out their substance. 
Accordingly, on the 25th, the President of the Council, 
Jeremiah Powell, and the commander of the Eat^tern depart- 
ment. General Heath, each wrote to General Wasliington, 
suggesting that application be made to the British General 
Howe to expedite the shipment of the troops from Boston. 
" I must entreat your Excellency's endeavors," says General 
Heath, " to facilitate their removal as soon as possible, as 
their continuance for any considerable time will greatly 
distress the inhabitants, both as to provisions and fuel, 
especially the latter. Wood is now fourteen dollars per 
cord on the wharfs, and the inhabitants cannot obtain a 
supply at that price," &c. (Letters to Washington, II., 17). 

General Washington replied to each of these letters under 
date of November 5th. To Mr. Powell, dated " Camp, 
at White Marsh," he says, — 

"I have been duly honored with your favor of the 2oth ultimo, 
and join your honorable Board most heartily in congratulations on 
our success in the surrender of General Bnrgoyne and his army ; 
an event of great importance, and which reflects the highest honor 
upon our arras. In respect to the cml)arkation of the prisoners, 
I take it for granted, that the beneficial consequences which the 
British nation would derive from their arrival in England will be 
sufficient motives for General Howe to use every [lossible exertion 
to get them away, and that no application for that end will be 
necessary. For, as soon as they arrive, they will enable the 
ministry to send an equal number of other troops from their 
dilferent garrisons to join him here, or upon any other service 
against the American States. I shall be soiry, if their remaining 
should subject you to the inconveniences, which you seem to 
apprehend; and, if they can be acconunodated, I think, in point 
of policy, we should not be anxious for their early departure. 
As to the transports, if General Howe is in a situation to send 
them, it is to be presumed, that they will be properly appointed 
with provisions and wood, the terms ot convention not obliging 
us to furnish their piisoners for a longer time than their continuance 
in our hands." (Sparks's Washington, V., 137). 

Washington also in similar language wrote to General 
Heath: — "I do not think it to our interest to expedite the 



17 

passage of the prisoners to England ; for you may depend 
upon it tliat tliey will, immediately upon their arrival there, 
throw them into different garrisons, and bring out an equal 
number. Now if they sail in December they may arrive 
time enough to take the places of others who may be out in 
May, which is as earl}' as a campaign can be well entered 
upon. I look upon it that their principal difficulty will arise 
from the want of provisions for the voyage ; and therefore, 
although I would supply them with every article agreeable 
to stipulation, I would not fnrnish an ounce for sea-store, 
nor suffer it to be purchased in the country." (Heath 
papers).* 

On the 13th of November, Washington again wrote to 
Heath, reiterating the views expressed in the citation given 
from his former letters, and intimating that General Bur- 
goyne would probal)ly soon apply to have the port of 
embarkation changed from Boston to- Rhode Island, or the 
Sound, saying that no encouragement should be given to 
such an application. His letter here follows: — 

Head-Quarters, 13 November, 1777. 
Dear Sir, 

In my letter of the oth in answer to yours of the 22nd [25th] 
ultimo, I mentioned, that it was not our interest to expedite the 
passage of tlie prisoners to England. Upon a review of the matter, 
I am more and more convinced of the propriety of the observation. 
The most scrupulous adherence, on the part of the enemy, to the 
convention of Saratoga will justify their placing the prisoners in 
garrisons, as soon as tbey arrive in Britain, and will enable the 



*Thp Heath manuscripts referred to are the papers of Major-General William 
Heath, embracing otHcial letters and documents relating to the period of the 
Revolutionary War. He was the Commander of the Eastern Department 
during the time that General Burgoyne and his army lay in the neighborhood 
of Boston, and the papers relating to those troops are very voluminous and of 
the highe>t value. The "' Heath Papers," comprising twenty-eight volumes in 
folio, are in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society— the gift of Mr. 
Amos A. Lawrence— and by the courtesy of that Society I have been allowed 
free use of them. The letters of Washington to Heath in this collection have 
been printed, and are soon to be published by the Historical Society in a Revo- 
lutionary Volume, edited by a Committee of which the Hon. Charles Francis 
Adams is chairman. 



18 

ministry to send out an equal number of troops to reinforce 
General Howe, or upon any other service against these states. 
This being the case, policy and a regard to our own interest are 
strongly opposed to our adopting or pursuing any measures to 
facilitate their embaikation and passage home, whicli are not 
requiied of us by the capitulation. If by our exertions these 
ends aie piomoted, our generosity will be rewai'ded, in the arrival 
of as large a force by the end of March, or early in Api'il, for 
the pm-poses suggested above. 

Tliese considerations lead me to observe, that it is extremely 
probable General Burgoyne will apply to you, or perhaps to tiie 
Council of the State, to dispense with the articles of convention, 
so far as they respect the port for their embarkation, and to 
change it fiom Boston to some place in Rhode Island or the 
Sound. I know he has received a hint upon the subject from 
General Howe. Should such a requisition be made, it ought not 
to be complied with upon any principles whatever. It cannot be 
asked as a matter of right, because by the articles Boston is 
assigned as the port. It should not be granted as a matter ot 
favor, because the indulgence will be attended with most obvious 
and capital disadvantages to us. Besides the delay, which will 
necessarily arise from confining them to Boston, as the j)lace of 
departure, their transports in a voyage round at this season may 
probably sutFer considerable injury, ifnd many of them may be 
blown as far as the West Indies. These considerations, and 
others needless to be added, have struck me in so important a 
point of view, that I have thought it expedient to write to you 
by express. Lieutenant Vallancey, who came with General Bur- 
goyne's desi)atches, left this on his return yesterday morning, and 
I make no doubt in a little time after his arrival. General Bur- 
goyne will request the port of embarkation to be altered. In- 
dependently of the impolicy of granting the requisition, iL appears 
to me, that no one has authority to do it but Congress. (Sparks's 
Washington, V., 143-145). 

Ou the 14th of November, Washington wrote also to 
General Gates respecting the Convention troops, caution- 
ing hiin against giving any encouragement to General Bur- 
goyne, sliould he apply to him, that the port of embarkation 
would be changed. It is not probable that General Gates 
or General Burgoyne considered for a moment, when Boston 
was named in the treaty as the port of •embarkation, the 
difficulties and dangers that might occur in sending trans- 
ports round Cape Cod to Boston in the winter season. 
Probably each regarded it as desirable . that tiie troops 



19 

should etnhurk as soon as practicable. The treaty was made 
in good faith. Burgoyne had complied with his part of it 
in surrendering his troops, and it Only remained that every 
reasonable facility should be afforded, on the other side, for 
their embarkation as soon as General Howe should furnish 
tiie trans})orts. 

Gates replied under date of November 23d that he had 
never entertained the idea that General Burgoyne should 
be permitted to exchange the port of eml>arkation, or 
that the terms of the convention should be moditied in his 
favor. But he suggested to Washington that although the 
British troops on their return home might be ordered to 
duty there, that the Germans could not by law serve either 
in Great Britain or Ireland. His letter, dated at Albany, 
here follows, — 

" Sir, I am just now honored with the receipt of your Excellency's 
letter of the l-ith instant, fi'om Wliite Marsh. I have never 
entertained the smallest idea that General Bui-goyne should be 
permitted to excliange the port of embarkation, or that the least 
variation of the spirit and letter of the convention would be 
indulged to tlie troops under his connnaud. There is no doubt 
but the British regiments, upon their airival in England, will be 
ordered to do duty there ; but tlie Geruiaiis cannot by the laws, 
serve in Great Biitain or Ireland. 

If General Burgoyne has any sinister design, what I suggested 
to Congress in my letter of the lUth instant, a copy of which I 
conclude your Excellency has received, will be a good method of 
delaying, if not final preventing, the execution of his project.* 

I shall write to-morrow by the Bostou post, to General Glover, 
who is charged with the embarkation of the prisoners under the 
convention and send him a copy of your Excellency's letter. 

I am Sir Your Excellency's most obedient, humble servant." 
(Letters to Washington, II., 48, 49). 

On the 26th of November, Washington wrote as follows 



*I find no copy of Wasliington's letter to Gates, nor of Gates's of the 10th of 
November to Congress. It seems that the suspicions of Congress relative to 
General Burgoyne and his army, had already been communicated to General 
Gates. 



20 

to Laurens, tlien president of the Congress in the place of 
Hancock, who had resigned, — 

"By a letter from General HoAve to General Burgoyne which 
passed through my hands, he hinted that liberty might proba- 
bly be granted for the prisoners to embark at Rhode Island, or 
some part of the Sound. This indulgence appearing to me 
inadmissible I immediately Avrote to General Heath to prevent 
him from giving the least countenance to the measure, in case it 
should be requested : and also to the Council of Massachusetts 
and General Gates, lest he should extend his applications to them. 
The reasons, I am persuaded will at once occui' to Congress for 
my conduct in this instance, as well as for General Howe's ; and 
I have been induced to mention it here on a supposition that 
General Burgoyne may address them on the subject. If the 
embarkation is confined to Boston, it is likely that it will not 
take place before some time in the spring, or at least towards the 
end of Febi-uary ; whereas if it were allowed at either of the 
other places it might be made this month or the beginning of 
next, and the troops arrive in Britain by the month of Januaiy : 
a circumstance of great importance to us, as, the moment they 
get there, the most scrupulous and virtuous observance of the 
convention will justify the ministry in placing them in garrison, 
and sending othei's out to reinforce General Howe or upon any 
other expedition that they may think proper to undertake against 
us. Besides, compelling their transports to perform a long coast- 
ing voyage at a tempestuous season, may bring on the loss of 
many, and be the means of deferring the embarkation for a long 
time.' (Sparks's Washington, V., 171-173). 

Five days afterward, on tlie fii'st of December, Con 
gross, after reciting that they had "received information" 
of tlie intention of Generals Howe or Burgoyne, as expressed 
in Washington's letter, passed the following resolve, — 

'■'■Jlesoh'ed That Mr. President inform General Gates, the 
Council of Massachusetts Bay, and Major-Gen. Heath, that it is 
the resolution of Congress, that if any such application as before 
mentioned is made, that it be utterly rejected, and that the said 
troops, when they do embark, nnist be shipped from the port 
stipulated by the convention of Saratoga and no other." 

Soon afterward, ac(H)rdingly, General Burgoyne did 
apply to Washington, ci'aving the indnlgence named. His 
letter to iiim had been already written on the 25th of 
November. 



21 

" Your Excellency," he says, " will have observed by the des- 
patch from Sir William Howe to nie, which passed through your 
hands, that it was matter of great doubt whether the transports 
destined to carry the troops to England, according to the con- 
vention, would be able to make the port of Boston in this advanced 
season of the year ; and therefore that it might be advisable 
to send them to Rhode Island, upon the supposition that a mere 
change of place, which made no alteration in the intent and 
meaning of the convention, would be readily agreed to. That no 
time may be lost in an embarkation, whicli I conceive will be 
equally desirable to the trooi)S and to this couutry in point of 
conveniency, I take the earliest occasion to apply to your 
Excellency, or thi'ough your means, if you judge necessary, to the 
Continental Congress, for consent to march the troops to Provi- 
dence or such other place as may be commodious to pass them by 
small craft to Newport ; this march to take place whenever 
advice shall be received of the arrival of the transports. Should 
any objection be against Rhode Island, any convenient port in 
the Sound would equally answer the purpose." (Ibid., 521). 

General Burgoyne added, that, if any considerations sliould 
arise, which he did not foresee, to make this proposal objec- 
tionable to Washington or to Congress, he, in that case, 
requested passports for himself and Itis suite to embark for 
home from R.hode Island in a separ^ite frigate. He also 
added that his private concerns and the state of his health, 
rendered it necessary that he should return to England. 

Washington communicated this letter to the President of 
Congress, under date of the 14th of December, from Head- 
Quarters, near the Gnlf, — 

" Enclosed is a copy of a letter from General Burgoyne, by 
which you will perceive he requests leave to embark his troops at 
Rhode Island, or at some place on the Sound ; and, in case this 
cannot be granted, that he may be allowed, with his suite, to go 
there and return from thence to England. His first proposition, 
as I have observed upon a former occasion, is certainly inad- 
missible, and for reasons obvious to himself. As to the second, 
which respects the departure of himself and suite. Congress will 
be pleased to determine upon it, and favor me with their senti- 
ments by the first opportunity, that I may know what answer to 
give him."* (Ibid., 186). 



*"I learn from Mr. Griffin, who has just come from Boston," continues 
Washington, " that this gentleman either holds, or professes to hold, very dif- 
erent ideas of our power from what he formerly entertained; that without 



22 

The journals of Congresf^, under date of the 17th of 
December, record the receipt of this letter of Washington, 
witli a letter of General Burgoyne, of the 25th of No- 
vember, enclosed, and the resolve wliich followed, namely — 
" Resolved that General Washington be directed to inform 
General Bnrgoyne that Congress will not receive nor con- 
sider any proposition for indulgence or altering the terms of 
the Convention of Saratoga, unless immediately directed to 
their own body." 

This was all the notice which was taken by Congress of 
General Burgoyne's application. 

In enclosing General Burgoyne's letter of the 25th of 
November, to Washington, soliciting a change in the port of 
embarkation. General Heath intimates some suspicion of a 
sinister design on the part of the British Generals in 
making the request. He writes, — " Resting assured of your 
Excellency's wisdom, and that the least advantage will not 
be gained by the enemy in any manojuvres pro]>osed by tiiem 
where you are to have the decision, I will not presume to 
mention any ohjections that liave arisen in my mind against 
General Howe's proposal." (Heath papers). 

The vote of Congress of the 17th of December was not 
expressed in the most courteous manner, and really did not 
reply, affirmatively or negatively, to General Burgoyne's re- 
quest. Tiie vote of the first of December had expressed their 
negative as to the change of the port of embarkation for the 
troo[)s, but had not been adopted when his letter was written. 
Washington would seem to have been the proper person for 
General Bnrgoyne to apply to ; certainly the proper medium 
for conveying his wishes to Congress. Washington seems, 



reserve, he has said it would be next to impossible for Britain to succeed in 
her views, ami that he should with freedom declare his sentiments accordingly 
on his arrival in England; and that he seemed to think the recognition of our 
independence, bj' the King and Parliament, an eligible. maasure, under a treaty 
of commerce upon a large and extensive scale. How far these professions are 
founded in sincerity, it is not easy to determine ; but if they are, what a mighty 
change 1 " 



V 



23 

in some of his letters, to have preferred that Congress 
should pass upon all matters relating to the Convention 
troops, and that he might simply be the medium for com- 
municating their wishes. 

Two days after its passage, the vote of the 17th of 
December was received by Washington, who on the fol- 
lowing day, transmitted it to General Burgoyne by express. 
The General was, of course, seriously disappointed, on its 
receipt. Some days before, he had received information of 
the vote of the first of December, but he still had hopes that 
the application for himself and suite might be granted. But 
a more serious blow awaited him ; indeed, a series of blows ; 
and they now followed each other in rapid succession. 

In giving the advice, so strenuously urged on the part of 
Washington, to effect a delay in the embarkation of the 
troops, or to guard against their receiving any indulgence in 
this respect, he felt that the recommendation was strictly 
within tlie letter of the Convention — the port of Boston 
having been named as the port of embarkation. 
, But Washington continued to keep a watchful eye on 
these troops. In his letter of the 14tli of December, 
enclosing to Congress the application of General Burgoyne, 
referred to, he concludes thus, — " While I am on the sub- 
ject of Mr. Burgoyne and his army, I would submit it to 
Congress, whether it will not be riglit and reasonable, that 
all expenses, incurred on their account for provisions, should 
be paid and satisfied previously to their embarkation and 
departure. I mean by an actual vdeposit of the money. 
Unless this is done there will be little reason to suppose 
that it will ever be paid. They have failed (that is the 
nation) in other instances, as I have been told, after liquida- 
ting their accounts, and giving the fullest certificates, and 
we cannot expect they will keep better faith with us than 
with others." (M4., pp. 186, 187). c^^^^^ ^ 

It will be remembered that, by the terms of the Conven- 
tion, the charge for the support of the captiii'ed troops, 



24 

which was to be borne hj the British till their embarkation, 
was to be at the same rate of ration as was paid the Com- 
missary for the support of the American troops.* The 
expense was large, about twenty thousand dollars a week, in 
Continental currency, then valued from two to three dollars 
for one in coin. Washington then proceeds to say, — "The 
payment too, T should apprehend, ought to be in coin, as it 
will enable us to administer some relief to our unfortunate 
ofiicers and men who are in captivity." 

The commissaries' accounts against the United States were 
made out in the depreciated currency, and were discharged 
in that currency, and the suggestion that General Burgoyne 
should be compelled to pay the face of such bills in coin, 
could hardly be said to come within the letter or spirit 
of the Convention, 

Congress was not slow in acting upon this hint of Washing- 
ton, for, on the 19th, live days after the )i« < > oipt of his letter, 
in considering the report of the board of war, they ordered, 
" that the accounts of all provisions and other necessaries 
which already have been, or which hereafter maj^ be supplied 
by the public to prisoners in the power of these states, shall be 
discharged by either receiving from the British Commissary 
of prisoners, or any of his agents, provisions or other necessa- 
ries, equal in quality and kind to what liave been supplied, 
or the amount thereof in gold and silver, at the rate of 
4 s. 6 d. for every dollar of the currency of these states : 
and that all these accounts be liquidated and discharged^ 
previous to the release of any prisoners to whom provisions 
or other necessaries shall have been supplied." 

A preamble to this resolve stated that General Howe had 
required that provisions should be sent in for the subsistence 
of the American prisoners in his possession, and that for the 
.purchase of such necessaries he had forbiddeta the circula- 
tion of the currency of the states within such parts as are 



* " Andiif possible the officers' horses and their cuttle are to be suppJied with 
)forage at the usual rates." 



25 

suhjectecl to his power, and also that the continental money 
had been connterfeited by General Howe's agents. 

The charge for supporting the Convention troops, united 
to the ordinary expenses of General Heath's department, 
caused him serious embarrassment. His debts were large 
and his constant calls for money on the Congress were 
answered only by promises. The depreciated continental 
bills could not be supplied as fast as they were wanted. 
Accordingly, on the first of January, 1778, Heath applied 
to General Burgoj^ne with a request that he should settle 
his account for the month of November, to which General 
Burgoyne assented ; and General Heath had agreed to 
receive the continental bills in paynient, which he was very 
glad to get. Before the acconnts, however, were discharged, 
and the money paid, General Heath received from Mr. 
Laurens the resolve of Congress of the 19th of December 
(he received it oft the evening of January 2nd ; it took 
from twelve to fourteen daj^s for an express to reach Boston 
from the Congress at York, Pennsylvania), with instructions 
to enforce its provisions upon General Burgoyne and his 
troops. He accordingly, the next day, wrote to General 
Burgoyne, citing the above preamble and resolution of Con- 
gress of the 19th ultimo, respecting the payment "in kind, 
or in gold and silver," adding, " I am also directed to see 
' that all acconnts with you are settled and fully paid in the 
same manner before the embarkation of your self or other 
officers and troops included in the Convention of Saratoga.' 
I thought it my duty to give your Excellency the earliest 
intimation of this order that you may take such steps as 
may be necessary for the settlement of the accounts, which 
cannot be settled by me in any other way than as above 
directed." (Heath papers). 

Two days afterward General Health wrote to President 
Laurens, acknowledging the receipt of the resolution of 
Congress, and relating to him the offer he had made to Gen- 
e'-al Burgoyne for a settlement in part of his accounts, and 



26 

reiterating his embarrassment as to funds. The Cong-ress 
had directed that any solid coin received in payment to the 
government should be sent on to the Treasury, so that no 
relief was afforded to the distresses of General Heath by 
any payment whicii Burg03'ne might make in tliat article. 
The letter seems to me of sufficient interest to be printed 
entire, — 

"Head Quarters, Boston, January 5th, 1778. 

I received the honor of yours of the 23d ultimo, |)er Major 
Story, on Friday last, enclosing the resolves of the Hon. Congress 
of the 19th and 22nd. Their arrival at that instant was 
truly fortunate, for our Pay Office being exhausted and the 
demand for provisions and feed for the troops beinsj very great, 
I was necessitated the day before to call upon General Bur- 
goyne to pay off ]3art of liis account in order to enable us to 
continue the supplies — this I did in such a manner as not to 
discover any scarcity of provisions or general want of money, 
observing to him that the monies were a]ipropriated for different 
purposes, and that the appropriation from which liis troops were 
to be supplied was out. 

He observed that he supposed I would not refuse our own cur- 
rency. I replied that I should not provided it were not counterfeit, 
to which he answered that he should not oifer me any that was 
such. As this passed the day before I received your letter, and as 
T am informed lie immediately took measures to raise a sum of 
money by selling a number of bills, if he should insist upon paying 
off i^art of the expense of the month of November in Continental 
bills, I do not see how I can refuse them, without infringing both 
on my word and honour. 

The next morning after I received your letter, I wrote 
Genl. Burgoyne in what maimer his accoiints must be settled, and 
that they were not to be settled otherwise. He obsei ved that it 
was a little extraordinary that we shoidd refuse our own currency, 
and further added that it was hard since it was notorious that a 
Guinea might be exclianged for twelve or fourteen dollars through 
the Country. He is however making preparation to settle his 
accounts and has this day sent to Rhode Island for money and for 
the transpoi'ts to come round to Boston, and proposes replacing 
part of the beef and flour if he can effect it. I think the state of 
their stores will not allow him to do it with any prospect of 
advantage to themselves. I shall order a most critical t^urvey of 
the provisions should any be sent, which I have already observed 
to him. I shall pay the strictest attention to the resolve, with 
respect to the money when I receive it. But we shall be 



27 

embarrassed beyond measure unless money arrives in a few days 
for our relief; nearly the amount of the whole warrant last sent to 
Mr. Hancock, has been expended for provisions and fuel, and 
large sums borrowed and ailvanced both in the Connnissaries and 
Quarter Masters Departments. The whole of this by the Kesolves 
is to be received of Gen. Burgoyne in provisions or solid coin, and 
if the latter, immediately transmitted to the Treasury. But how^ 
are we any longer to supply the troops, the expense of those ot 
the Convention'only, is about 20,000 dollars per week for provis- 
ions and fuel ; besides these there are tlie regiments of guards, the 
guards at the different Stoies and Magazines, and the troops at 
Providence to be subsisted and paid. To these may be also added 
the daily and great expense of transporting stores, which will be 
increased by the large quantity of stores lately arrived from 
France and Martinique, and are now unloading. I must therefore 
intreat that a sum of money (and permit me to beg for a large 
one too) may be sent on as soon as possible, without which all 
business must stop, and my situation be truly disagreeable. I 
have been endeavoring to borrow from the State but in vain. 
Permit me to repeat my request that money may be sent on if possi- 
ble. I hope the instructions which you were pleased to mention in 
your last to be prepai-ing for me will soon arrive, as 1 wish to 
answer every expectation of Congress, and I think the contin- 
uance of the troops of the Convention here will be but short, 
unless some special order should arrive for their detention. I have 
not as yet received the papers containing General Bui-goyne's 
complaint of the Convention being infracted, I am therefore at loss 
how far an eclaircissement is expected." (Heath papers). 

Later in the month, on the 18th of January, the ([uestion 
of payment seems still to have been pending between 
General Heath and General Burgoyne. The expetises were, 
all this time of delay in the embarkation, going on at a 
fearful rate. General Heath, under this date, writes to 
Mr. Laurens : 

"The Commissary and Quarter-master have exhibited thcii- ac^ 
counts to Genei-al Burgoyne of the supplies foi' the months of Nov- 
ember and December. He cannot yet well digest the payment in 
solid coin, alleging that every hard dollar willfetch him three of 
paper currency. Mr. Clark, his commissary, sets out to-morrow to 
wait on General Howe with the accounts, first waiting on General 
Washington for his direction. I believe the motive of this journey 
is to consult which will serve most their own interest, refund- 
ing the provision or . paying the money. He obseived to our 
commissary the last evening, that the demanding payment in 



28 

hard money was so extraordinary that he imagined Great Britain 
would not hesitate at paying thirty thousand pounds sterling to 
pul)lish sucli a procedure to the world. * * * * 

The transports have not yet arrived, but are soon expected." 

General Heath also writes in a similar strain to Wash- 
ington on tlie next day, — 

" Your Excellency will observe," he says, " that he (Burgoyne) 
is laying great stress upon the payment of his accounts in solid 
coin, and views it as an infraction on the Convention. * * The 
Commissary has charged the provisions at tlie same price at which 
oiu' own troops are supplied. General Burgoyne supposes his solid 
coin to be worth three times as much as our currency. But what 
an opinion must he have of the authority of these states, to suppose 
that his money would be received at any higher raie than our 
own in public ])ayment. Such payment would at once be 
depreciating our currency with a witness." (Ibid.). 

Washington must have smiled at the simplicity of his cor- 
respondent who seems to have little thought how much more 
effectually he or the Congress were aiding in depreciating 
their own money, by declining to receive it, especially in this 
instance, according to the stipulation of the Convention. 

This was a novel and ingenious linancial scheme which 
was played <>tf upon General Burgoyne. Congress said, you 
must pay us in solid coin for what we buy in bills, dollar for 
dollar, for the supply of your troops, till they eml)ark ; and 
hnally, they improved upon this by resolving that the troops 
should not embark at all. General Heath at one time sent 
to Congress one hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars 
in coin, in wagons, under a convoy of troops, three-fourths of 
which liad been paid him by General Burgoyne for fuel 
alone, for which Congress had paid the same sum in paper 
money. 

On the same day that General Heath addressed tliese 
letters to Washington and Laurens, General Burgoyne wrote 
tlie following letter to General Howe by his commissary, Mr. 
Clark. The letter, a copy of which is among the Heath 
Papers, is a model of style and of clearness of statement, — 

Cambridge, January 18, 1778. 
Sir. 

I have the honor to transmit to your Excellency copies of 



29 

letters and extracts which have passed between me and Major- 
General Heath, respecting- the mode of payment for the ]irovis- 
ions, wood and other articles furnished to the troops under my 
command. 

The demand of gold and silver coin, and the declaration which 
ac'Com])anies it, viz. that neither I nor any of the troops shall 
embark till the accounts are so paid, appearincr to me to be matters 
of the most serious moment, whetlier the public faith as pledged 
by the Convention, or general justice im|)lied in the dealings of 
the most hostile nations, be considered, I applied for safe 
conduct to my Commissary General, Mr. Clark, to proceed to 
your Excellency in order to lay the accounts before you, and to 
receive your ordei's. This appHcation lias been consented to and 
I shall impatiently expect his return. 

I also with M. Geneial Heath's consent despatch Lt. Valiancy 
to M. General Gates, to require his exertions in support of the 
treaty, in which his personal honor and the character of the 
Government he serves ai'e intimately united. The matter lies in a 
very small compass. The value of gold and silver in every part 
of the country is notoriously disproportionate to that of paper 
currency: to purchase commodities by money of the lesser value, 
and to receive payment in that of the greater, according to the 
nominal value of each, would be clearly to secure the gain to the 
purchasers in proportion to the diffei'ence of the intrinsic value, 
and consequently the engagement of supplying these troops, at 
the same rate of ration with General Gates' army, would be 
directly infringed. 

It may happen that both Mr. Clark and Lt. Valiancy may 
return before the transports are ready in the port of Boston to 
receive the troops, and in that case matters may be adjusted to 
the satisfaction of all parties. Should it be otherwise it is my 
present intention to tender paper money, or gold and- silver or 
drafts in proportion to the known value of each, in payment for 
the charges incurred for the troops, and it will then be for the 
judgment of M. General Heath or other ruling ])Owers here, to 
giant or refuse the fiee passage to the troops, and without delay. 

My health has suffered considerably by my residence in this 
climate, and is likely to do more so: but that representation had 
no avail in one application I made for embarkation at Rhode 
Island as matter of favoi-, and it would be vain to try it the 
second time. 

I have the honor to be, with perfect respect and attachment, 
Sir — your most obedient and humble Servant, 

J. BUKGOYNE. 

To his Excellency General Howe, &g., &c., &g.* 

*General Heath, through whose hands this letter of General Burgoyne's 
passed, suggested to the writer of it that he should have meutioued in it the 



30 

On the 5th of Fel)rnary, General Howe wrote to Wash- 
ington, from Philadelphia, sa^'ing* that, — 

" By advices received from Rhode Island, transmittiiio- to me a 
copy of a letter from General Heath to Lieut.-General Burgoyne, 
a copy of which is enclosed, I am informed that it is detei- 
mined to detain General Burgoyne's ti'oops in New England luitil 
all demands for their provisions and other necessaries are satisfied, 
and that tliis determination is grounded not only upon a requi- 
sition of mine for provisions to be sent in for the subsistence of 
the prisoners in my possession, and for the purchase of other 
necessaries, but upon a forgery by my agents, emissaries and 
abettors, of what are called continental bills of credit. This last 
allegation is too illiberal to deserve a serious answer. With 
regard to the other, I know not from what expression, in any of 
my letters to you, it has been understood that I ipade the requisi- 
tion alluded to." (Sparks's Washington, V., 535, 536). 

General Howe then refers to the prisoners in his own 

hands, what provision had been made for them by him, 

and wliat, by a mutual understanding, was expected to be 

done relating to prisoners of war on both sides. He then 

adds, — 

" With regard to the account for provisions and other necessa- 
ries, which I tind by General Heath's letter is become a pretext 
for infringing, if it is not intended as an absolute breach of, the 
convention of Saratoga, I do readily agree to the immediate 
appointment of Commissioners, on your part and on mine, to settle 
that account, together with all other accounts of provisions, &c., 
furnished the prisoners on either side, and to make payment of the 
balance. * * * * As I have no objection to the earhest meeting 
of the Commissioners for completing the exchange and liquidating 
the accounts, 1 trust there will be no impediment to the release ot 



alternative of the Resolutiou of Congress, namely, that he had the privilege of 
replacing the provisions supplied to him; which was true. But General Bur- 
goyne may not at the time have regaided the alternative as practicable. The 
requirement of either was a violation of the Convention. He had no facilities 
for supplying his army with provisions and fuel, while they lay at Cambridge. 
Much of it came Irom a distance and through channels wholly unknown or 
inaccessible to his commissaries. He was in a hostile country, and the circum- 
stance of his being in the market would have defeated his object at once. The 
very fact that he paid a large amount in coin, dollar for dollar, shows the diffi- 
culties with which he was surrounded. Arrangements were subsequently made 
as we shall see. for returning provisions from New York and Rhode Island for 
a considerable part of the accounts. 



31 

General Bargoyne's troops, but that you will give immediately 
such or<lers for their embarkation upon the arrival of the 
transports at Boston as will remove every difficulty." (Ibid., 536, 
537). 

Washington replied to General Howe's letter under date 

of the 10 th of February, — 

"In answer to whatever it contains," he says, "concerning 
Genei-al Burgoyne's army, and the measures adopted relative to it, 
I have only to inform you that this is a matter in which I have 
never had the least direction. It lies wholly with Congress, and 
the proposals you make on this head must be submitted to them. 
I have accordingly transmitted a copy of your letter and shall be 
ready to forward to you any resolution they may take in conse- 
quence." (Ibid., 234). 

In writing this letter, with his characteristic caution, to 
General Howe, disclaiming any direction on his part as 
to General Burgoyne's arm}^ Washington knew that Con- 
gress, nearly a month before General Howe's letter was 
written, had passed their final vote, indefinitely detaining the 
Convention troops; that he liad thereupon written to General 
Heath *'' to increase his vigilance and strengthen his guards," 
frorn a fear that Bnrgoyne might attempt to escape, and that 
the knowledge of this decision of Congress must soon reach 
the British General. 

Nothing therefore for the relief of General Bnrgoyne 
grew ont of General Howe's proposal relative to the settle- 
ment of accounts. But Washington and General Howe 
had for some time been trying to arrange a general cartel 
for the exchange of prisoners ; and General Howe's letter, 
just cited, referred to the subject anew, and an agreement as 
a basis of exchange and for the appointment of commission- 
ers was soon afterward actually made : but it was suspended 
by Congress. A cause of serious embarrassment, as also of 
exceeding mortification to Washington after he had pledged 
his engagement to General Howe, was the insisting by 
Congress on the application of their resolution of the 
19th of Decendjer, as a })reliminary to the discharge of any 
of the prisoners held by them ; namely, that all charges for 
5 



32 

furiiisliino^ provisions for such prisoners must be paid before 
they were liberated, and paid also in coin. 

Against the principle here adojited by Congress Wash- 
ington eloquently protested as an effectual barrier to the 
forming of any cartel, citing particularly the unjust require- 
ment of the resolution referred to, which he said " obliged 
the enemy to pay gold and silver on equal terms for 
continental currencyj estimating the articles snpi)lied them 
at their actual prices with us, as seems to be the design of 
the resolve of the 19th of December ;" the concluding 
clause of which resolution he supposed was intended more 
particularly to apply to General Burgoyne's army.* 

*This resolution of the 19th of December, as I have said above, became now a 
source of serious embarrassment to General Washington ; for althoujrli it was 
enacted principally for General Burgoyne's army, it was avowedly dictated on 
the princi|)le of retaliation, and had by its terms a wider application. Washing- 
ton had been for some time attempting, and he still labored during the greater 
part of the war, to enter into a general cartel with the enemy for the exchange 
of prisoners, to take the place of the temporary expedients that had been 
adopted. Congress was for some time opposed to it. For a considerable 
period the larger part of the prisoners held by the enemy were militia soldiers, 
whose time was up, and who, if liberated, would return home; while the 
British prisoners, in the hands of the Americans, would at once be put into the 
field. (I do not refer here to the Convention troops, but to the prisoners of 
war). Washington earnestly protested against such narrow views, urging that 
every dictate of humanity demanded an exchange of prisoners. He advocated 
it also on the ground of policy. " If such an opinion," he said, "were once 
established that we designedly avoided an exchange, it would be a cause of dis- 
satisfaction and disgust to the country and to the army, of resentment and des- 
peration to our captive olHcers and soldiers." (Sparks's Washington, V.. 257). 
After Congress had agreed to the appointment of commissioners to join those of 
Sir William Howe for this object in the Spring of 1778. Washington found that 
the resolve of the 19th of December, requiring the settlement of all accounts in 
the way it indicates before the liberation of prisoners, was interpreted by Con- 
gress to be of general application; and he at once saw if it was insisted on it 
would destroy all attempts at negotiation. In a letter to Congress of the 8th of 
March he says : " It may be said that, with whatever powers I was originally 
vested to negotiate an exchange, the resolution of the 19th of December last was 
an abridgment of them, so far as to annex a new condition, the settlement and 
payment of accounts previous to its taking place. 1 had no conception of this 
being the case in the present instance, however the letter may warrant the con- 
struction. Besides the common principle of preventing the inconveniences 
necessarily resulting from allowing the enemy to make their payments in paper 
currency, I had reason to imagine that General Burgoyne's army was more 
.particularly the object of the concluding clause." (Ibid,, 255)^ Jn a letter to 



33 

No one understood tliese financial questions, or more 
properly these simple matters of common honesty, between 
man and man, better than did General Washington ; and he 
knew that General Howe would never consent to enter into 
a cartel with him, based on the absurd proposal, as a 
preliminary, that all accounts for provisions which had been 
purchased in continental money and supplied to the British 
soldiers, should be paid for in coin, dollar for dollar. He 
says this would '" destroy the idea of a cartel." 

It becomes necessary in order to gather up the threads of 
this narrative to go back to the early part of November. 
After tlie first rejoicings at the capitulation of Burgoyne 
were over, Congress seemed to revive the feeling expressed 
by some of its members, when Wilkinson officially 
announced the surrender to that body. They seem to have 
lacked confidence in the faith and honor of the British oflicers, 
and felt that tliere was no security against the troops appear- 
ing again in the field. They therefore passed a resolution on 
the Stli of November, instructing General Heath to transmit 
to the board of war, a descriptive list of all persons compre- 
hended in the Convention, in order that, if any officer, 
soldier, or other person of the said army should hereafter 
be found in arms against these states in North America, 
during the present contest, he might be convicted of the 
offence, and suffer the punishment in such case inflicted by 
the law of nations. 

This resolution was transmitted to General Heath, who 
sent it to General Burgoyne. That officer was seriously 
offended at the request, and for the purpose for which it was 
made, saying he regarded it as an insult to his nation. He 
said that the terms of the Convention did not require it : 



Congress of the 4Mi of April following, still earnestly laboring to effect his 
object, he says : The idea of " obliging the enemy to pay gold and silver on 
equal terms for Continental currency, estimating the articles supplied at their 
actual prices with us, as seems to be the design of the resolve of the 19th of 
December," would " destroy the idea of a cartel." 



34 

that some reliance sliould be placed upon his honor, and he 
declined to assist General Heath in complying with the 
requisition of Congress. Consideraljle correspondence 
ensued. General Burgoyne afterwards yielded the point, 
but the period had arrived when the occasion for whicli it 
had been required had passed. We shall soon see the 
use which Congress made of this declination.* 

Again, on the arrival of the troops in the neighborhood 
of Boston in the early part of November, it was found to 
be extremely difficult to procure quarters for the officers. 
The citizens were unwilling to receive them into their 
families, or to relinquish to them their residences, and the 
trustees of public Iniildings were unwilling to give them up 
to the authorities for this purpose. There was a lack of 
authority to compel any definite action. For weeks the 
condition of things was disgracefnl. The Council of 
Massachusetts directed that one of the college halls should 
be surrendered for this purpose, but the fellows opposed 
it. Finally a number of the houses in Cambridge, some 
of them belongino; to refugees, were taken. General 
Burgoyne had the Borland House, on Harvard street, 
assigned to him, and General E-iedesel, the Sewall House, on 
Brattle street, at the corner of Sparks street. Others were 
quartered in adjoining towns. During this state of suspense, 
on the 14tli of November, after General Burgoyne had 
been in Cambridge about a week, he wrote a letter to Gen- 
eral Gates, in which he described the state of things which 
existed as to the officers' quarters, adding that " the public 
faith is broke." Only one paragrapli from this letter has 
ever been ptiblished, that containing the above clause. The 
entire letter is here given from a copy among the Heath 
Papers : — 



*For the full discussion of the question relative to the " descriptive lists," I 
can do no better than refer the reader to the report of the Congress, and the 
full reply to the same by General Burgoyne, in the Appendix to this Report 
of the Council. 



35 

Public House at Cambridge, Novem. 14th, 1777. 
Sir, 

1 tiansmit to yoii by Captain Seymour a correct return of the 
forces under my command the day of signing tlie Convention, 
the Provincials and Canadian companies excepted, which could 
not be ascertained, but Avhich taken together certainly did not 
exceed two hundred bearing arms. I should have acquitted my- 
self of this engagement sooner had I been able to tind a proper 
conveyance. 

I have the satisfaction to inform you, Sir, that the British 
troops accomplished the march without any complaint either on 
their j^art or against them. There Avere some ditierences between 
M. Gen. Kiedesel and the officer of your troops who conducted 
his division, but no disagreeable consequences ensued. I under 
stand there has been a refusal of quarters and refreshments to 
the hospital by a committee on the road, but having no regular 
report I will not trouble you with complaint. 

I cannot speak with satisfaction upon what has passed, and still 
passes here. The officers are crowded into the barracks six and 
seven in a room of about ten feet square, and witliout distinction 
of rank. The Genei-al officers are not better provided for. I 
and General Philips aftei' being amused with promises of quarters 
for eight days together are still in a dirty small miserable tavern, 
lodging in a bed room together, and all the gentlemen of our 
suite lodging upon the lloor in a chamber adjacent, a good deal 
worse than their servants have been used to. 

Tlie only prospect that remains to me peisonally, is that I shall 
be permitted to occupy a house without a table, cliair, or any one 
article ul furniture for the price of an hundred and fifty pounds 
sterling till the tii'st of April but the saniesum is to be paid tiiough 
I sliouid embark in ten days. 

While I state to you, sir, this very unexpected treatment I 
entirely acquit M. Gen. Fleath and every gentleman of the 
Military Department of any inattention to the publick faith 
engaged in the ('onvention. They do what they can, but while 
the supreme poweis of the state are unable or unwilling to 
enforce their authority, and the inhabitants want the hosi)itality 
or indeed the common civilisation to assist us without it, the 
publick faith is broke, and we are the immediate sufferers. 

I 'cannot close my letter without expressing the sense I enter- 
tain of the honor, the candor, and the politeness of youi- proceed- 
ings in every respect towards the army, and my self, and I am 
with sincere regard, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, 

J. BUKGOYNE. 

P. S. M. Gen. Phillips wlio is now with me desires you to 
accept his compliments. 

Majoij-Gen. Gates. 



36 

Three days previously General Heath had written to 
the Council of Massachusetts in relation to the officers' 
quarters, using language as strong as that employed by 
General Burgoyne, namely, that the state of things was 
disgraceful, and that the honor of the state was in danger. 
This letter here follows, — 

"The unhappy and disgraceful situation of General Burgoyne 
and his officers is the only reason that constrains me again 
to write you on the subject of providing them with proper 
quarters. I would acquaint your Honors that ever since your order 
of the 7th inst., my Quarter Master has exerted himself to the utmost 
of his power to procure suitable accommodations, but without 
effect. The officers now begin to appear disgusted, and your 
Honors will observe by the enclosed, without speedy redress the 
unfavorable impi'essious will have taken too deep root to be easily 
eradicated. The honor of the state is in danger, the public faith 
responsible. Circumstances will no longer admit of delay, 
decisive measures must be innuediately adopted, and I cannot 
conceive of any so ettectual as the appropriation of at least one 
of the colleges. To your Honor's wisdom it must be submitted, 
as the means are not in my power without offering violence to the 
rights of the Constitution which I wish ever to hold sacred." 

On the IStli he writes the Council thus, — 

"I would beg leave just to subjoin that the officers are still 
extremely uneasy as to their quarters. Gen'l Burgoyne the last 
Saturday demanded a passport for an officer to proceed to his 
Excellency General Washinf^ton, and to Congress, to represent 
to them that the Convention was broken as to quarters. I 
granted his request but desired him to defer sending until this 
day, by which time I was in hopes [)roper quarters would be 
provided." 

General Gates was of course unable to remedy the state 
of things described in General Bnrgoyne's letter to him, so 
he sent a coi)y of the letter to Congress, That body 
subsequently laid hold of the passage in it relating to the 
violation of public faith, and requested General Gates to 
deposit the original letter in their archives. 

"Congress had now obtained," says Gordon, "what they 
wanted, a plea for detaining the Convention troops." 



37 

General Burgoyne's allegution that the Convention had 
been broken as to quarters, was made, as they claimed, 
for the purpose of letting in the principle that the 
breach of one article discharges the injured party from its 
ol)ligations ; and his refusal to give the descriptive lists 
Wcpe cited as strengtliening their suspicion. 

Again, on tlie lOtli of November, Congress had ordered 
that General Gates's return of ordnance, &c., taken from 
the enemy be referred to a connnittee of three, of which 
Francis Lightfoot Lee was chairman ; and on the 22nd that 
committee made the following report, — 

"That there is no mention in the said return of standards, 
military chest, medicines or tents, — that the quantity of powder is 
very small, being only fifteen barrels grained and two barrels 
mealed, and the quantity of fixed ammunition very inconsiderable, 
— that the muskets amount only to four thousand six hundred and 
forty-seven, a number not equal to the prisoners who suireudered 
agreeable to the convention of Saratoga, and all these muskets 
are returned unfit for service, — that there are only six bundled and 
thirty-eight cartouch boxes, — that the number of bayonets is 
greatly inferior to the muskets, and these, as well as the cutlasses, 
are returned ' without scabbards ' or belts ; in short the whole 
return seems very inadequate to a well appointed army and to 
what miwht be expected from the answers returned by lieutenant 
general Burgoyne to the first propositions made by major gener- 
al Gates ; the committee therefore are of opinion, that an enquiry 
ought to be made into the causes of this deficiency ;" whereupon, 

Resolved, That the president imuiediately send an express to 
general Gates, and desire answers to the following questions, viz. 

What is become of the standards belonging to the respective 
regiments in general Burgoyne's ai'my? 

Whei-e is the military chest and the medicines? 

What is become of the cartouch boxes ? 

How comes the quantity of powder and cartridges to be so 
small ? 

How comes it that the number of muskets is less than that of 
the prisoners, and that all the muskets are unfit for service? 

How comes the number of bayonets to be so greatly inferior to 
that of the muskets ? 

Where ai'e the scabbards and belts of the bayonets and 
cutlasses? 

Was there any destruction, waste, removal or concealment of the 
arms, tents, colours, treasure or other militaiy stores, belonging 



38 

to rjoneral Burgoyne's arm}', from the time ihe first projiosal 
was made on the 13th of Octol)er to the time of the siin-eiider? 

What was the state and condition of the arms, and military 
stores when received by general Gates 1 

Were the arms piled agreeably to the articles of Convention ? 
If they were not, did any damage necessarily accrue in conse- 
quence of the failure"? 

And that general Gates be directed to make the necessary 
enquiries and return his answers to Congress as soon as possible. 

Resolved, That it is not to be understood that the embarkation 
of the troops under lieutenant general Burgoyne is in anywise to 
be delayed on account of the foregoing queries, if transports 
ari'ive before the answers are returned and the enquiiy directed 
is finished." 

A committee with these enquiries was despatched to 
General Gates, at Albany, who, on the 3d of December, 
replied in full, addressing his letter to the president, Henry 
Lanrens, — 

"I had the honor to receive your excellency's letter of the 23rd 
ult. by Mr. Pierce, and immediately jiroceeded to dispatch to the 
Congress the required answers. Respecting the standards. Gen- 
eral Burgoyne declared upon his honor, that the colors of the 
regiments were left in Canada. As to the military chest, its con- 
tents might so easily be disposed of that to have sought for it 
would have been ineffectual. The British Army all last war, left 
the paymaster general and the military chest in some secure town, 
and warrants were granted upon the paymastei" general there. 
From the best accounts, the enemy's army had been lately cleared 
off; so tliat it is not probable there was any military chest. The 
medicines were left with the general hospital, which General 
Burgoyne left behind him at Freeman's farm. Many of the 
cartouch boxes were left, and some were carried away. The 
mentioning of the accoutrements was foigotten in the convention. 
Those that have been carried off have been sold upon the road to 
Boston for drams. The quantity of field ammunition and musket 
cartridges t<aken, are by no means inconsiderable. The rest was 
used and destroyed before the treaty commenced The muskets 
will ever be less in number than the prisoners, as the drummers 
and staff oflicers do not carry firelocks. Many arras were lost in 
the two hundred batteaus, that were taken Irom the enemy in 
their retreat from Freeman's farm, and many others wei'e plun- 
dered by the militia on the east side of the river. The bayonets 
were also pilfei'ed by our own people. The very guai-ds them- 
selves supplied their wants from the piles. Many of the scabbards 



39 

for tlie bayonets were disposed of in the like manner. I believe 
there w;is no destruction of military stores after the convention, 
by or with the privity of Gen. Burgoyne or his ofhcers. It is so 
extraordinary for a British army to surrender their arms, that we 
ought not to wonder at the violent and disappointed for commit- 
ting some irregularities ; but I do not conceive, that any thing 
of sufficient consequence was done, to justify our charge of their 
having violated the convention. On the day General Burgoyne 
surrendered, I received repeated expresses to inform me, that the 
enemy's tleet had advanced up to within a few hours sailing of 
Albany. The removal of the array was therefore immediately 
necessary to cover that city and secure our magazines. My 
principal attention vvas of course directed towards that object. 
Generals Glover and Whipple gave me their assistance and entire 
approbation in the settlement of the convention. When things 
of such importance must be done in a hurry, some articles of 
seeming importance never fail to be omitted. The arms were 
piled lip agreeable to the letter of the convention, j^nd their 
condition as good as can be expected upon such occasions. Their 
being wholly unfit for service, is partly owing to the land and 
water carriages, but chiefly to the want of proper packages to 
secure them. Our own men have changed them ; but here I think 
we should not imprudently expose the infant state of our military 
discipline." (Gordon, TIL, 46). 

This letter of Gates, it will be seen, was written under 
the feeling that Congress was criticising hiin, pretty closely 
relative to the condition of the property surrendered, and 
the absence of what they thought should have been surren- 
dered, and he made the best apology he could. Wilkinson, 
a manly and highly spirited man, says, — "Burgoyne made 
his own convention, and saved his accoutrements, military 
chest and colors, all of which were retained notwithstanding 
General Gates' letter to Congress * * which was unworthy of 
a soldier," The British surrendered what they agreed to, 
so far as appears, and what General Gates understood 
should have been surrendered by the terms of the Conven- 
tion. 

I may anticipate here so far as to say, that General Gates's 
letter seems to have silenced all these hostile inquiries or 
implied charges, except that relating to the cartouch boxes, 
some of which appear to have been carried off by General 



40 

Burgoyne's troops. We have already seen that General 
Gates says that the accoutrements were forgotten in the 
Convention, which means that he allowed them to be taken 
away, as he had a right to. In confirmation of this I will 
cite a passage from the ex3,mination of Lient.-Col. Kingston, 
before the House of Commons, in Burgoyne's " State of the 
Expedition," &c., page 91. Kingston assisted in making the 
Convention on the part of the British : 

Q. Was it by consent of Gen'l Gates that the soldiers after 
the Convention retained their Cartouch boxes'? 

A. They retained their belts, and I really don't recollect 
whether their cartouch-boxes were in general retained or not ; 
but talking with Mr. Gates when the King's troops marched by 
with the accoutrements on, Mr. Gates asked me (we had been 
old acquaintance formerly) whether it was not customary on field 
days for arms and accoutrements to go together. I told him 
there was nothing said in the Convention that I had agreed to 
with hitn relating to the accoutrements, and that he could have no 
right to anything but what was stipulated in that treaty. He 
repUed, " You are perfectly right," and turned to some of the 
officers in their service by, and said, "If we meant to have had 
them, we ought to have inserted them in the Convention." 

That General Gates consented to the Convention soldiers 
taking away their accoutrements, is further confirmed by 
the testimony of Lieutenant Noble, acting Aid-de-Camp to 
Major-General Phillips : 

"In the course of conversation, at Saratoga, October 17, 1777, 
I heard Major-General Gates say that he did not mean to injure 
private property ; and as the Colonels would sulfer by the loss of 
their accoutrements, the soldiers might take them. I was the 
officer sent to the commanding officers to tell them the soldiers 
were to keep their accoutrements. They had taken them ofi' with 
a design to leave them behind, and upon my delivering the 
message they put them on again. This was before dinner. 
Major-General Phillips and Major-General Gates were together." 
(Almon's Rem., VI., 157). 

Congress had now brought their plan respecting the Con- 
vention troops to a near consummation, being a conclusion 
of the policy of delay pursued from the fir^st respecting the 
embarkation of the troops. 



41 

Burgoyne's letter to Gates, of the 14th of November, in 
which he said that " the public faith is broke," as to sup- 
plying quarters to the officers, and his letters to Heath rela- 
tive to the descriptive lists, had been referred to a com- 
mittee, veho, on the 26th of December, brought in a report, 
whicli was lesid and referred to a committee of the whole.* 
This committee, through F. L. Lee, chairman, on the 2nd of 
January, 1778, brought in the following amended reso- 
lution : — 

" That the charge made by lieutenant-general Buvgoyne, in 
his letter to niajoi-general Gates, of the 14th of November, of a 
breacli of public faith on the part of these States, is not warranted 
by the just construction of any article of the Convention of 
Saratoga ; that it is a strong indication of his intention, and 
affords just gi'ounds of fear that he will avail himself of such pre 
tended breach of the Convention in order to disengage himself 
and the army under liim of the obligations they are under to 
these United States ; and that the security which these States 
have had in his personal honor is hereby destroyed." 

On the next day, the 3d of January, the second amended 
resolution was read : — 

" Resolved, therefore, that the embarkation of Lieut.-General 
Burgoyne and the troo|)S under his command be suspended till a 
distinct and explicit ratification of the Convention of Saratoga 
shall be pro|)eily notified by the Court of Great Britain." 

These resolutions, based entirely on the passage in Gen- 
eral Burgoyne's letter that " the public faith is broke " as to 
quarters, were recommitted the same day. Congress seem 
not to have been prepared to take so important a step as 
was indicated in the second resolution, without assigning a 



*Oii the following day President Laurens addressed a confidential letter to 
General Heath, intimating the nature of these preliminary proceedings of Con- 
gress, and warning him that General Burgoyne must not be allowed to depart. 
On the 8th of January General Heath replies to President Laurens, acknowl- 
edging his letter of the •27th ultimo, and saying, — " I shall keep the contents of 
your last letter a profound secret until the time shall arrive that they are to be 
made known. But we have reports in the streets before even the letters 
arrive. Some five or six days since a gentleman from Connecticut reported 
that Congress had passed a resolve ratifying the Convention on the part of the 
United States, and requiring a ratification from the Court of Great Britain, 
until which General Burgoyne was to be detained." (Heath Papers). 



42 

more substantial reason than was given in the first resohi- 
tion or preamble. These proceedings were therefore re- 
garded as confidential, and General Washington, who had 
been notified of them, writes to the President of Congress, on 
the 9th, tliat he shall keep the matter secret till they are 
duly announced by Congress. He thinks that General 
Burgoyne will be greatly chagrined when informed of tlieni, 
as lie learns that the refusal to allow his troops to embark 
at Rhode Island or the Sound, had greatly chagrined him. 

On the 8th of January, the Committee to whom was 
recommitted the resolutions of the 2d and 3d, made a 
long report, in which they embodied their suspicions of 
intended bad faith on the part of General Burgoyne, drawn 
from circumstances that ordinarily would have been little re- 
garded, charging no acts of bad faith committed on the part 
of that officer, except the taking away l)y his soldiers of a 
few cartouch-boxes, included under the term accoutrements, 
which General Gates had already told ihem in substance 
that he allowed to be taken away, and closing with the 
following resolutions, which were adopted :* 

" jResolved, That as many of the cartouch-boxes and several 
other articles of military accouti'ements annexed to the persons of 
the non-cominissioned officers and soldiers included in the Conven- 
tion of Saratoga, have not been delivered up, the Convention, on 
the part of the British army, has not been strictly complied with. 

Mesolved, That the refusal of Lieutenant-General Burgoyne to 
give descriptive lists of the non-commissioned c>fficers and ))ri- 
vates belonging to his army, subseqvient to his declaration that 
the public faith was broke, is considered by Congress in an alarm- 
ing point of view ; since a compliance with the resolution of 
Congress could only have been prejudicial to that army in case of 
an infraction of the Convention on their ].)art. 

Mesolved, That the charge made by Lieutenant-General Bur- 
goyne in his letter to major-general Gates, of the 14th of Novem- 
ber, of a breach of the public faith on the part of these States, is 
not warranted by the just construction of any article of the Con- 
vention of Saratoga; that it is a strong indication of his inten- 
tion ; and affords just ground of fear that he will avail himself of 



*Tlii.s report, preceding the resolutions here printed, will be found in llie 
Appendix to the Council's lieport. 



43 

such pveteiuled breach of the Convention, in order to disengage 
himself and the army under him of the obligation they are under 
to these United States : and that the security which these States 
have had in his personal honour, is hereby destroyed. 

Resolved, therefore^ That the embarkation of Lieutenant-Gen- 
eral Burgoyne and the troops under his command, be suspended 
till a distinct and explicit ratification of the Convention of Sara- 
toga shall be properly notified by the court of Great Britain to 
Congress." * 

In these final reasons given for indefinitely detaining 
the Convention trooj)s there was no allegation that the 
military chest had been secreted, or not given up. There 
was no agreement that it should he given up. General 
Gates, as he admits, made no inquiry for it. The whole 
army was paid off a few days before the surrender, and 
what money was left was taken to Albany by the English 
Paymaster General. The sum remaining was probal)ly in- 
considerable, as a great want of money was soon exDcrienced 
by the army, and Godeck, the paymaster of the German 
troops, was in Canada with the military chest. (State of the 
Expedition, p. 85 ; Eelking's Riedesel, ed. Stone, L, 228.) f 

The policy of delay appears to have been continued by 
Congress even after the adoption of the resolves of the 8th 
of January, suspending the embarkation of the troops. 
General Heath received the official information of their 
final passage nearly a month afterward. In the meantime. 



*Tlie votes were not unanimous on all these resolves from their first incep- 
tion ; but it is difficult to analyze them. Congress was composed at this time of 
but a few members, and all of these were not the most suitable for the station. 
See Washington's letter to Harrison, of 30th December, 1778. A serious cabal 
existed among them that winter; some favoring the ambitious schemes of 
Gates, and some opposing them. How far this feeling against him controlled 
the action of the majority of Congress as to the Convention of Saratoga is a 
matter of conjecture. Tlie first impulses on the surrender were manly and 
generous toward him. 

tl may not omit to mention here, that, from the publication of the Riedesel 
Memoirs, we learn that General Riedesel secured the colors of the German 
troops, and intrusted them to the care of his wife; who, when the army left 
Cambridge for Virginia, iiad them sewed up in a mattress, more effectually to 
conceal them from hostile ejes. 



44 

as we have seen, General Burgoyne and his officers and men 
were expecting to embark, and the transports had been 
ordered to come round from Newport to Cape Cod to 
receive tliem. 

On the 24th of January, General Burgoyne writes to 
General Heath that he supposed it would answer the pur- 
pose of Congress if the descriptive lists of the troops, 
asked for, were handed in any time before embarkation. 

It was not till the 3d of February that General Heath 
received Laurens's letters of the 14th, 21st and 22d of 
January, transmitting several resolves, including that of the 
8tli of January, postponing indefinitely the embarkation, 
ordering the transports, if they have arrived, or when they 
sliall arrive, to quit Boston without delay, and directing the 
guard for the prisoners to be increased. Washington ex- 
pressed his fears lest General Burgoyne should, on the 
receipt of the news of the detention, regard himself as ab- 
solved from all obligation, and " make use of any means to 
effect an escape." Laurens also writes, " As good policy 
dictates that we should keep the Court of Great Britain 
from a knowledge founded upon authentic accounts of the 
acts of Congress of the 8th of January, as long as we can 
fairly do so," General Howe will not be notified of it " until 
Congress shall be informed that you have delivered a copy 
of the act to General Burgoyne." 

A few weeks later General Heath wrote to Laurens that 
he had done his best to keep the matter of the resolves a 
secret, but that a printer of a newspaper had got access to 
the Council Chamber of Massachusetts, where a copy of 
the act was deposited, and secured a transcript for his 
press, and other printers had copied it. It is published in 
Edes's Boston Gazette of the 16th of February, 1778. 

There had been rumors in the air for weeks that Con- 
gress was devising a plan for detaining the Convention 
troops. 

On the 4th of February General Heath notified General 
Burgoyne of the resolves of Congress, detaining the troops, 



45 

and sent him a copy of the papers. On the 7th, he writes 
to the President of Congress acknowdedging his despatches, 
and saying that General Burgoyne desired to send a copy 
of the resolve to General Howe, bnt he had refnsed him.* 
He says that " General Burgoyne and his officers appear 
much disappointed, and exhibit an appearance rather of 
concern and uneasiness than sulkiness or resentment, and 
endeavor to palliate their former expressions and conduct."! 

On receiving the resolves detaining the troops. General 
Burgoyne addressed a long remonstrance to Congress, 
answering every allegation in the length}' document issued 
by them, and concluded by offering, — "should any doubt 
still subsist that the idea of being released from the engage- 
ments of the Convention has been adopted by any part of 
the troops," — a further pledge of the faith of every officer 
in his command, "provided the suspension is immediately 
taken off." % 

This paper he despatched to Congress, by express, on the 
11th of February. It was read on the 26th, and referred 
to a committee, who reported, on the 2d of March, that in 
their opinion it contained nothing " sufficient to induce 
Congress to recede from their resolves of the 8tli of Janu- 
ary ; " and the report was agreed to. 

General Burgoyne had written a second letter to Con- 
gress, to be handed in in case the former failed, soliciting 
the privilege for himself and his military family to embark 
for home, on account of his private affairs, his failing 
health, etc., and offering to hold himself in readiness, under 



* After Congress had learned that the affair was all in the newspapers, they 
directed General Heath not to refuse the sending a copy to General Howe. 

t A little later in the month, General Heath writes : " General Bui-goyne and 
his officers express themselves with much modesty under their detention. 
But General Phillips observed to me, the day before yesterday, that Great 
Britain would never ratify the convention. That it was made between General 
Gates and General Burgoyne, and neither the United States nor Great Britain 
mentioned. The ministry would have nothing to do with it." 

tThis letter of Burgoyne to Congress is given in the Appendix to the 
Council's Report, following the Report of the Congress. 



46 

Ill's parole, to return, if called for, should the suspension of 
the embarkation of the troops be prolonged. Tliis letter 
was considered on the following day, and the application it 
contained was granted. 

In the meantime General Heath received information 
that the transports, twenty-five in number, had arrived at 
Cape Cod, fully supplied with provisions, and ready to 
receive the troops of the Convention and convey them to 
England. The frigate Juno, destined for the service of 
General Burgoync and his officers, attended them. Of 
course their errand was useless. The transports had left 
Rhode Island before information had been received there of 
the detention of the troops by Congress. They appear to 
have arrived at that port, from tlie Delaware, early in 
December. In a letter fi-ora General Washington to Gen- 
eral Gates, under date of the 2d of December, 1777, he 
says, " No transports have yet sailed from the Delaware for 
the purpose of carrying the troops to Europe, nor do I hear 
tliat any have gone from New York. I can only attribute 
this delay to want of provision for the voyage. Bread, we 
know, is exceedingly scarce among them." General Pigot, 
under- date of December 5th, from Rhode Island, wrote 
to General Burgoyne, that the transports were off the 
harbor's mouth. In a British letter written from New 
York on the 16th of December, is this passage : " General 
Burgoyne, with the wreck of his small army, has been 
some time near Boston, between Charlestown Neck and 
Cambridge. Our transports are now at Rhode Island, with 
an intent to take them on board. I sincerely wish them all 
en)l)a.rked, for I am much afraid the rebels, will make use 
of some subterfuge to detain them." Again, under date of 
January 1, 1778, " I suppose that Lord Howe has arrived 
at Rhode Island by this time. He has sailed to that quarter 
on purpose to expedite, if he can, the embarkation of 
General Burgoyne's troops. I am much afraid the rebels 



47 

will invent, some scheme to detain them altogether." 
(Conduct of the American War, pp. 88, 89, 90). 

How long time the transports waited at Rhode Island 
solely with the expectation that the embarkation would be 
permitted from that port, I do not know. Lord Howe, in 
a letter to General Burgoyne, from Rhode Island, dated 3d 
February, saj's : " The transports have only been delayed 
to take the precautions necessary for their safe passage this 
season of the year." * 

In communicating these resolutions of Congress of the 
2d and 3d of March, enclosing a copy for General Bur- 
goyne, Laurens, under date of the 6th, thus writes to Gen- 
eral Heath : " Nothing is said by Congress in their present 
acts, respecting General Burgoyne's accounts ; my private 
sentiment is that the former orders exist, and are not super- 
seded by anything inclosed. However, I shall have a 
further opportunity of speaking to this point to-morrow, if 
Congress will enable me." That is to say, as to whether 

* But this may refer to the period which may have elapsed since the positive 
orders, on the 6th of January, were given to send the transports round from 
Rhode Island to Boston. On the ITtli of December, 1777, General Heath 
writes to Washington that General Burgoyne had heard of the resolves of 
Congress of the 1st of December, forbidding the change of the port for the em- 
barkation for the troops, "with no small disappointment;" but he was now 
anxiously awaiting an answer to his letter (of the 25th November) to Washing- 
ton, for leave to embark personally, before the troops. " The day before yester- 
day he desired that I would forward a letter for him to General Pigot to order 
the transi)ort8 round to Boston. Yesterday he was hesitating about it, and 
observed if it were probable that an answer to his despatch would arrive in a 
day or two, he would defer sending to Rhode Island. General Riedesel observed 
yesterday that it was very doubtful whether the troops would get away this 
winter, for if the transports should attempt to get round, it was more than 
probable that many of them would be blown off the coast. What their final 
determination will be, I cannot tell, but they all appear much disappointed." 
On the 25th of December, Heath writes to Washington that "General Burgoyne 
has not as yet sent to Rhode Island to have the transports ordered round, 
although he has been talking of it ever since he was Informed of the resolve 
of Congress restricting him to the port stipulated by convention. He is uneasy 
that he does not hear your Excellency's determination, as to himself and suite, 
which he daily expects." On the 6th of January, 1778, Heath writes, " General 
Burgoyne has this day sent to Rhode Island for the transports to come round 
immediately." The transports probably did not leave Rhode Island till Feb^ 
ruary. (Heath Papers). 
7 



48 

General Heath shall require the settlement of all the 
accounts relating to the Convention troops, wliich seems 
jet not to have been brought to a conclusion, before Gen- 
eral Burgoyne be allowed personally to embark. A few days 
later, Laurens again wrote to General Heath, saying that 
Congress had given no further direction in relation to the 
accounts, and he must act according to his own deter- 
mination. 

Laurens's letter of the 6th of Mai-ch, enclosing the resolve 
permitting General Burgoyne and his military family to 
embark, had, however, been received by General Heath, and 
a copy of the resolve bad also been received by General 
Burgoyne, about the 19th ; and to the latter it afforded 
great pleasure. He at once applied to General Heath for 
his passports, saying he hoped nothing would now stand in 
the way of his speedy departure. He hoped to be off in 
about three days. But General Heath cliecked his ardor by 
telling him that the President of Congress was of the opin- 
ion that the former resolves of that body should be strictly 
observed, and therefore he must insist that all tlie accounts 
be paid, agreeably to the resolve of the 19th of December 
last, before he could be allowed to depart.* 

General Burgoyne's health was failing, and there were 
many reasons why he wished to embark, and after consider- 
able demurring on his part, and consultations witli his Com- 
missary, an under standing was in a few daysf arrived at, 
which was subsequently embodied in a written paper, of 
which a resuyne is given further on. In the meantime the 



* Heath's Mem., p. 160. 

t On the 4th of April, 1778, Mr. Laurens, the President of Congress, writes to 
General Heath: " Sir, yesterday I had the honor of presenting toCongiess 
your favors of the 21st and 24:th of March, and although I Lave received no 
particular commands relative to their several contents, I am warranted by the 
general voice of members to intimate that you have received the api)lause of 
the house for your determination respecting the adjustment of accounts with 
General Burgoyne." 



49 

following letter was written bj General Burgoyne to Gen- 
eral Heath : — 

"Cambridge, 29th March, 1778. 
Sir: 

Since receiving the favour of yours of yesterday, I have con- 
sidered maturely the subject of the accounts, and find that I can 
consistently with my duty meet you so very nearly upon your 
own terms that nothing but insincerity in the engagements made 
to me, which I will not suspect, can prevent ray immediate 
departure. 

I am induced to give you this information to-day that no 
impediment may arise to finishing the whole business to-mOrrow, 
when I expect, in consequence of your engagement, the favour 
of seeing you. 

I have a new motive for being thus pressing, having last night 
suifered an attack from the gout in my stomach, of a much more 
serious nature than I have ever before experienced. I am con- 
vinced every day's detention in this country endangers my life, 
and I am confident you would be sorry to reflect hereafter that 
any unnecessary, not to say unwarrantable, delays, had contribu- 
ted to such a situation. 

My proposal in regard to paying provisions in kind, and of such 
quality as your Commissary shall approve I understand to be 
finally settled between us. 

In legard to the wood account and the account given in by 
General Glover, thei"e are certainly several articles that require 
more discussion and examination than can possibly be given them 
within the time I have named for my departure, but in order to 
remove every difficulty from your mind, I will give you whatever 
sums you shall require within the charge, for your receipt upon 
account. These sums I will also engage upon my parole to put 
into the hands of your Commissary at Rhode Island, or if you 
prefer it I will give you the Paymaster General's bills, which I 
will endorse upon the publick account, and will pledge myself for 
their being discounted at par at Rhode Island, if you do not 
choose to negotiate them at Boston. 

After going so far to acconnnodate your inclinations, I have 
only to add my reliance that you will bring with you to-morrow 
my passpoits and a parole according to the Resolve of Congress. 
I am. Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

J. BURGOYNE. 
Maj'r Gkn'l Heath. 

The following is a synopsis of -the agreement entered into 
on the 2d of April, 1T78, between General Heath and Gen- 



50 

eral Bnrgojne, and the paper before me being that part of the 
instrument belonging to the former, it bears the signature of 
General Burgoyne : — 

Articles of Agreement hetwee-n His Excelleney Lietitenant- 
General Surgoyne and the IIo7iorable Major General Heathy 
respecting the payment of Provisions, Fuel, &c., furnished to 
the troops of the Convention : 

For the payment of provisions charged in the account of Com- 
missary Millar, of the 13th and 31st of January, and the 2.Sth of 
February, General Burgoyne shall proceed to Rhode Island, and 
within twenty days from his arrival there shall send the provi- 
sions by transports to Boston ; and for any I'esidue for which it 
may be necessary to send to New York, forty days time shall be 
allowed. As security for the performance of tlie agreement. 
General Burgoyne shall deposit solid coin in the hands of General 
Heath's agent at the rate indicated by the resolve of Congress 
of the 19th of December, and the coin to be forfeited if the 
above supply fails, or as far as it fails. 

Further, General Burgoyne is to pay into the hands of said 
officer (his agent) the amount of $96,521, in gold and silver, for 
fuel furnished the Convention troops up to the 30th of March. 

General Burgoyne is also to pay in solid coin the chaiges in- 
curred by Genei'al Glover, on account of the troops during tlieir 
march from Saratoga. 

All sums of money not forfeited are to be paid to the British 
General Phillips, or the commanding officer of the Convention 
troops for the time being.* 

The amo\int to be paid to General Glover is not named 
in the above agreement, but the sum paid him was over 
thirty thousand dollars, also in gold and silver — a dollar of 
silver for a dollar of paper money expended. 

I have no definite data by which to arrive at the entire 
amount of the bills of Commissary Miller, referred to, for 
which General Burgoj'ne agreed to send the like provisions, 
in quantity and quality. 



*General Riedesel seeems to have been Inaccurately informed as to the details 
of General Burgoyne's accounts with the Congress; probably owing in part to 
his being a foreigner. His copy of the articles of Convention at Saratoga is in- 
accurate in several particulars as it" now stands in the English re-translatiou. — 
See Eelking's Riedesel, ed. Stone, I., 184; II., 12. 



51 

Mr. Adolphus in his history of England, says, — " these 
rapacious phinderers presented an account of monies dis- 
bursed for tlie wretched support they afibrded the prisoners, 
amounting to one hundred and three thousand pounds 
sterling, which they would receive only in hard money, at 
the rate of a silver for a paper dollar." (II., 575, ed. 1841). 
For his autliority for this allegation he cites tlie " State 
Papers." I do not lind this statement as to tlie amount of 
hard money paid by General Burgoyne, coniirmed by the 
Heath papers. I find only about one lumdred and forty 
thousand dollars acknowledged to have been received in 
gold and silver by General Heath. For much the larger 
part of the charges General Burgoyne finally agreed to 
make payment in "kind." Yet the expenses thereto, includ- 
ing the etihanced price of provisions, when the payment was 
made, though perhaps not amounting to a payment in gold 
and silver, must have been very much increased over what, 
by the treaty, it was agreed Burgoyne should pay. But the 
fact that it was decided by the British Generals finally to 
make the experiment of sending provisions from Rhode 
Island and New York, shows, that they regarded it as 
cheaper than to pay in coin. There was however an 
unexpected charge made in landing and transporting the 
provisions after they had arrived in Boston. For the 
amount expended in paper money for labor, tlie same was 
exacted in gold and silver, dollar for dollar. 

The box of gold, amounting in our currency to some 
fifteen thousand dollars, which General Burgoyne left on 
deposit when he quitted Cambridge, as a pledge for the 
prompt and faithful performance of the coutra(;t, was, on 
the settlement of the provision account in tlie following 
June, claimed to have been mostly forfeited. Less than 
one third of the amount, as a balance, was paid over to 
General Phillips. 

On the 29th of April, General Heath wrote to Mr. 
Laurens that he had received from General Glover 28,000 



52 

Spanish milled dollars, and 817 guineas, paid to him by 
General Burgoyne for supplies for the troops on the march 
from Saratoga to Cambridge. 

On the 4th of May he wrote to the Hon. Board of 
the Treasury that General Glover had just called on him. 
" He informs me " he continues " that the moneys which 
he received at Albany for supplying the troops of the 
convention with fuel and other necessaries on their march 
from Saratoga to Cambridge, were insutficient for the 
purpose, and that he was obliged to advance a considerable 
sum of his own money in currency, which is now repaid by 
General Burgoyne in solid coin. He apprehends that it is 
but just he should receive a refund of his own money in 
solid coin, which is for your honors to determine." 

Whereupon Congress on the 25th of that month, 

'■'■Resolved., That General Heath be directed to pay, in continental 
currency to Biigadier Glover, the sum that shall appear to be due 
him on account, for purchasing provisions and othei- articles for 
the prisoners of the convention of Saratoga, while on their march 
from that place to Boston, and for guards attending the said 
prisoners." * 



* III a letter from Brigadier General Glover to General Washin^on, dated, 
Cambridge, 27 January, 1778, he says, — 

" Sir, I have received your Excellency's letter yesterday, of the Sth instant 
desiring me to join my brigade as soon as possible. I apprehend your Ex- 
cellency has not been fully acquainted with the business I was charged with 
by General Gates, which has been and still will be, attended with so many 
difficulties, as will necessarily detain me at this post till the embarkation of 
General Burgoyne. 

" I was honored with the command of conducting him and his troops from 
Saratoga to Cambridge, for the better supplying of whom, and the convenieney 
of the inhabitants of the country tlirough which they marched, I divided them 
into two divisions; the British by Williamstown and Northampton, the 
Germans by Kinderhook and Springtield; with commissaries, quartermasters, 
and waggon-masters for each, with particular directions to take bills for what 
supplies they received, and give orders on me for piiyment. This order not 
being fully attended to, I was obliged to send Quarter-master Story back to 
Albany to collect the outstanding accounts. When that is done, I shall charge 
General Burgoyne with the whole, in one general account; and as many of the 
charges, in my opinion, are unjust, and others extravagantly high, large sums 
being charged by the inhabitants for damages in burning fences, destroying 
hay, grain, flax, &c., and also for clothing, furniture, &c., stolen out of their 



53 

General Burgoyne left Cambridtre for liliode Island, for 
embarkation, on the 5th of April. On the next day 
General Heath wrote to General Washington, — " General 
Burgoyne was not gone when 1 was honored with your last, 
enclosing one to him. He has expressed tlie greatest 
pleasure and satisfaction on receiving your letter. I do 



houses (these charges I know General Burgoyne will object to), the inhabitants 
look to me, and expect I shall see them paid. 

" To acquit myself of censure, I am determined to lay them before the General 
Court, and desire that a committee may be appointed to examine them, and 
make what deductions shall appear to them to be just, which 1 hope will give 
satisfaction to both parties. When this is done. I have to present it to him for 
payment, and then advertise the inhabitants to come and receive their moneys. 
I shall lose no time in bringing the whole to a close as soon as possible. Thus 
Sir, I have given you an account of what I have been doing, and still have to 
do, at this post, which I hope will meet your Excellency's approbation." 
(Letters to Washington, II., 72). 

I have already said that General Glover received from General Burgoyne 
before he embarked, upwards of thirty thousand dollars, in gold and silver, 
for the supplies of provisions and fuel furnished on the march from Saratoga to 
Cambridge, this amount being paid out in paper money and received in coin, 
dollar for dollar. But for certain incidental charges, such as are named in the 
above letter. General Glover allowed General Burgoyne to pay in paper. He 
thought this was not only equitable, but that it did not come under the 
requisition of the act of the 19th of December; and moreover, he was greatly 
distressed for paper money to pay off the numerous claimants. For allowing 
this, however, he was obliged to defend himself to the Treasury Board, who 
sharplj' questioned him in regard to it. 

By commanding the escort of the convention to Cambridge, General Glover, 
an admirable officer and man, made the acquaintance of General Burgoyne, 
and seemed to have taken an interest in him. and was disposed to do what he 
could, consistently with his duty, to relieve the tedium of his captivity. I^efore 
the close of the first month in which the troops arrived at Cambridge General 
Glover had planned an excursion for the captive General which may be told in 
an extract from a letter of General Heath to General Washington, dated 27th 
November, 1777, — " General Glover being present has solicited leave that 
during the stay of General Burgoyne in this neighborhood, he may be i^ermitted 
to visit the great seaport towns to the eastward, between this and Portsmouth, 
which he conceives may be of advantage to us by showing him how populous 
our country really is. I have consented that General Burgoyne should dine with 
him at bis seat, but object to the further Indulgence, thinking it rather iiupolitic. 
But General Glover is so importunate that I have told him I would mention the 
matter to your Excellency; if you should 'think proper, I should not afterwards 
object." 

General Washington, however, did not think it prudent to grant such a 
request. In a letter to General Heath of the 17th of the following month he 
says,—'' I think it would have been highly improper to allow him (General 



54 

myself the honor to enclose one from him. Yesterday about 
eleven he set out for Rhode It^Iund. He expresses the 
strongest wishes for an accommodation." 

The letter from Washington enclosed to General Heath 
was his well known letter to General Burgoyne of the 11th of 
March, 1778, which has been cherished as an heir-loom iu 
his family, and of which ?k facsimile is given in the recent 
Life and Correspondence of General Burgoyne, by De 
Fonblanqne. In it Washington says, — " Your indulgent 
opinion of my chaz'acter, and tlie politeness in which you 
ai'e pleased to express it are peculiarly flattering; and I take 
pleasure in the opportunity you have afforded me of assuring 
you that, far from suffering the views of national opposition 
to be embittered and debased by personal animosity, I am 
ever readj^ to do justice to the merit of the gentleman and 
soldier, and to esteem, where esteem is due, however the 
idea of a public enem}' may interpose. You will not 
think it the language of unmeaning ceremony if I add, that 
sentiments of personal respect, in the present instance, are 
reciprocal." 

Fonblanqne says that General Burgoyne left Rhode 
Island for England " in the Jnno frigate. Captain Hew 
Dalrymple, in the middle of April." But see the following 
passage iwnw Almon's Remembrancer, VI., 207, — " Extract 
of a letter from Portsmouth [England], May^ 13. Arrived 
just now the Grampus man-of-war, from Rhode Island, 
having brought home General Burgoyne, who is just landed. 
His arm}' is still detained by the Americans." " London, 
May 11. Last night while his Majesty was at the Theatre 



Burgoyne) the liberty to visit your seaport towns. A man of his sagacity and 
penetration would make many observations that might prove detrimental to us 
in future." He then suggests to his correspondent to apply to Congress for 
directions in all matters relative to General Burgoyne and his troops. 

General Burgoyue's feelings while in Cambridge were deeply enlisted in the 
case of the American Col. Henley who commanded there, against whom lie 
preferred charges of barbarous and wanton conduct, and had him brought to 
trial at a Court Martial m January— General Burgoyne conducting the prose- 
cution. Henley was acquitted. 



55 

royal in Drury Lane, advice was brought of the arriv^al of 
General Bnrgoyne that day at Portsmouth. General Bur- 
goyne left Rhode Island the 20th ultimo." 

By this act of Congress, indefinitely suspending the 
embarkation of the Convention troops, the agreement made 
at Saratoga was broken, and the troops were relegated to 
the condition of prisoners of vs^ar. No one should be 
deceived by the ingenious language employed, " that the 
embarkation be suspended," until the happening of some 
future contingent event.* This resolve was the introduction 
of a new element into the treaty witbout the consent of 
both parties to it, and was therefore an abrogation of it. 
The language cited was an attempt to keep tlie word of 
promise to the ear, while it was broken to the hope.j As I 
have said, the troops were made prisoners of war, and re- 
mained prisoners of war to the end. Notwithstanding all 
this Congress still claimed that the expense of supporting 
tlie Convention troops must be paid bj the British as before, 
often referring to the treaty as though it were yet in full 
force, and the troops were only waiting their embarkation. 
From the 8th of January, when the resolve was passed, to 
the time Burgoyne left Cambridge, the same charge for 
snp|)orting the troops was continued, and a large amonnt of 
coin paid, dollar for dollar. 

After General Burgoyne's departure. General Heath 
substautiully concluded an arrangement with General Pigot, 
the British commander at Rhode Island, brought about 



*Nothiug was more improbable at the time than that Great Britain would 
ratify the Convention. Her well known views concerning the relations of the 
belligerents, the political status of each, and the fact that the treaty required no 
such ratification, forbade any such hope. " The ratification which Congress 
required." says Massey, " was one which could not be given without a recogni- 
tion of their independence." (History of England, II., 392). Yet Sir Henry 
Clinton ottered in the following September to renew all the obligations of the 
Convention, in the name and by the authority of the crown; but his offer was 
rejected. 

t" Congress made a distinction," says Ur. Ramsey (History, II., 238). "be- 
tween the suspension and the abrogation ol the Convention." "A distinction," 
says an eminent English writer, "such as Escobar himself might envy." 



tlirougli the intervention of General Burgoyne, by which the 
British should continue to supply the Convention troops with 
provisions from their own stores at that depot, conveying them 
in transports round Cape Cod.* This arrangement, to be 
submitted to Congress, was connnunicated by General Heath 
in the following letter to Mr. Laurens, — 

Head Quarters, Boston, April 27tli, 1778. 
Sir : 

The Victuallers from Rhode Island have arrived safe in this 
harbour, and this morning we begin to survey and unload the 
provisions. There are on board, 3034 bbs. of flour, 830 bbs. 
beef, 1235 bbs. pork, upwards of twenty tons of bread, a quan- 
tity of rice, peas, tfec. A further quantity of beef is daily 
expected from New York. 

After General Bnrgoyne arrived at Rhode Island, he with 
General Pigot proposed the sup})lying the troops of the Conven- 
tion in future, provided, assurance is given for the safe entry, 
protection and return of the transports, and sucli assistance being 
aiforded them, as may be necessary in unloading, storing and 
transporting the provisions &c., l-o the places where the troops of 
the Convention may be stationed, they paying therefor the usual 
rates. Major Morrison a Deputy Commissary Gen'l has been sent 
here for the purpose of negotiating the business. Enclosed is the 



♦General Burgoyne hsid so much concern for the liberation of his army, that he 
still cherished and publicly upheld the idea, on his return to Enjjland. that the 
Congress would comply with its resolve of the fith of Dooonibor , ITTt, if its 
terms were accepted in England. His wish was father to the thought; and when 
he was taunted by the ministry, who feared him and wished to deprive him of his 
seat in Parliament and send him back to America, with being a prisoner uf war 
under a rebel Congress, " the Convention of Saratoga being now broken," he re- 
plied that the Congress had only suspended the execution of the Convention on 
their side, until it had received a formal ratilication from Government. Lord 
Geoi'ge Germain, as late as April, 1779. even after the return of his commission- 
ers, said iu his place in the House of Commons, that his latest despatches from 
Sir Henry Clinton had given him hope that the captive army had already been 
restored to liberty, as " the breach of the Convention of Saratoga was looked up- 
on by every honest man in America, as well as Great Britain, to be a most shame- 
ful violation of public faith." This hope was disappointed. At a little later 
period General Burgoyne, in a review of the evidence in his case laid belore the 
House of Commons, said : *' The Convention expressly preserved the army for 
the service of the State. * * * The army was lost by the non-compliance 
with the treaty on the part of the Congress ; and that violation of faith no man 
will ever be found to justify." (See the Annual Register for 1778, pp. 199*, 200*; 
Hansard's Pari. Hist., XX., 715 ; Burgoyue's " State of Expedition," &c., p. 132). 



57 

proposal made by him to which I have veturned an answer to 
Major General Pigot, and do myself the honor to present copy 
thereof to Congress for their approbation or disap})robation as 
they may think pro]ier For my own part I think tliis mode of 
supply will be infinitely for the advantage of our cause, will tend 
to lower the exorbitant prices of provisions, give ns an opportu 
nity am|)ly to sui)ply our own troops and i-eplenish our magazines. 
It will be observed in my answer that I fix the payment of the 
accounts of any assistance afforded in unloading, storing or 
transportation of provisions in solid coin at which they grumble 
much, and in this instance as in all others of the kind, assert, that 
the high prices of labour and everything else which is paid in our 
papei' currency, is more severe when demanded of them at a 
like rate in solid coin, and that labour & assistance of boats, 
waggons, &c., are not those provisions and necessaries which are 
to be ])aid for in solid coin by the resolve of the 19th Decem"". 
To pacify them I have given them assurance that I would 
represent the matter to Congress, which I now do, and would 
solicit a signification of their pleasure thereon as soon as may be 
convenient, as I think it i)robable that no provisions will be 
forwarded until they have an answer. If it be asked how will 
they obtain paper money to pay for the transportation of their 
provisions, &c., I answer by selling, bills of exchange and 
exchanging silver and gold secretly at three or four for one. 
But whether the demand for repayment in gold and silver for 
laboui- and transportation of stores paid for by us in paper cur- 
rency at the same rate, will be justified by the world, is not for 
me to deteimine. 

Congress, thereupon passed the following resolves : 

'^ Hesolved, That Congress approve of Major General Heath's 
conduct relative to the proposals made by Majoi* General Pigot, 
for supplying with provisions the troops who surrendered prison- 
ei'S under the convention of Saratoga : 

That the president be directed to inform Major General Heath, 
that Congress expect that all assistance afforded to the enemy, in 
unloading, storing or transporting provisions for the support of 
the convention prisoners, be jjaid in solid coin, agreeably to the 
spirit of their resolution of the 19 of December last." 

General Pigot supplied these provisions gratuitously, keep- 
ing alive the obligation of the Convention on the part of the 
British, affording thereby great relief to the commissary de- 
partment of General Heath; making it easier, he says, to 
supply his own troops; as "prices," he writes to Washington 



58 

in the latter part of January, "are intolerable" and sonic- 
thing must be done to put a stop to " extortion."* 

How far Washington may have approved or disapproved 
of this vote of Congress of the 8th of January, suspending 
the embarkation of the troops till a ratification of the 
Convention shall have been notified to Congress, is not clear. 
Mr. John Adolphus in his History of England says that, — 
" General Washington remonstrated with force and fii in- 
uess against this national act of dishonour, which he repre- 
sented alike injurious to the cause in the breasts of Britons, 
foreigners, and. even their own American adherents; but 
his reasonings were vain ; and, notwithstanding the most 
explicit and candid ofi'ers and assurances, the terms of the 
Convention were not complied with." And T>e Fonl)lanque 
says that " Washington earnestly urged a fulfilment of the 
pledge in which the honor of Congress and of the army 
was involved." (Life of Burgoyne, 318). The latter gives 
no authority. The passage from Adolphus is in his edition 
of 1805, Vol. III., p. 89, and he refers at foot to " Wash- 
ington's Letters, Vol. IL, p. 266." This is the edition of 
1795, published in London, in two volumes. Tlie same 
reference is continued in the latest edition of Adolplius, 
published in 1841 (in Vol. H., p. 575) ; and though the 
author, in that edition, cites occasionally Mr. " Sparks's Life 
of Washington," he still allows his old references to 
" Washington's Letters " in the edition of 1795, to stand ; 
and on comparing his citations with the volumes he is 
usually found to be correct. But in the instance under 
consideration he seems quite at fault. There is no such 
passage on the pages cited, nor any allusion to the subject 
of which the historian is speaking ; neither do I find tlirongh- 
out these volumes or elsewhere any language of Washing- 
ton's, relating to the Convention troops, to warrant the 
statement of Adolphus or of De Fonl)lanque. 

*To save too frequent footnotes of reference, I will say here that the cor- 
respondence cited in the preceding pages, unless otherwise indicated, is talien 
from the '* Heath Papers." The resolves of Congress, it will be understood, are 
taken from the Journals of Congress. 



59 

I liave already referred tt) Washington's earnest appeal to 
Congress, in the Spring of this year, on another snbject, 
namely, the importance of arranging a general cartel for 
the excliange of prisoners. He liad already entered into 
negotiations with Sir William Howe on this snbject, but he 
fonnd his way blocked by an nnwillingness on the part of 
Congress to enter into his humane plans. By this proceed- 
ing he felt that his own reputation would be compromised, 
as well as the honor of tlie nation, and his remonstrances 
to Congress were serious and urgent. " To say nothing," 
he says, "of the importance of not hazarding our national 
character but upon the most solid grounds, especially in our 
embryo state, from the influence it may have on our affairs 
abroad, — it ma}' not be a little dangerous to beget in the 
minds of our own countrymen a suspicion that we do not 
pay the strictest observance to the maxims of honor and 
good faith. It is prudent," he continues, " to use the 
greatest caution not to shock the notions of general justice 
and humanity, universal among mankind, as well in a pub- 
lic as a private view." The expressions and sentiments in 
this passage, quite similar, it will be seen, to those quoted 
by Mr. Adolphus, are in Washington's letter to Congress of 
the Tth of March, 1778, and on pages 235 and 23() of the 
volume cited by the historian; bat they do not relate to 
the Convention troops. 

The act of Congress, detaining the troops, was the carry- 
ing out of Washington's policy of delay, which was 
implicitly adopted by Congi-ess. How far Washington may 
have shared the feeling, cherished ai)i)arently by some of 
the members of Congress, that the English officers would 
not keep their faith if the troops were allowed to depart, 
does not distinctly appear. Unless In's letter to General 
Burgoyne was a mere form of unmeaning compliments, lie 
entertained a high regard for his personal character, and 
faith in his personal lionor. His advice to Congress, so far 
as is known, was given in view of the ultimate departure of 
the troops from Boston. 



60 

That the suhjec.t of the Convention troops had been dis- 
cussed in letters between Washington and Richard Henry 
Lee, is shown by a passage in Lee's letter to him of the 20th 
of November, 1777. — " It is unfortunately too true that 
our enemies pay little regard to good faith, or any obliga- 
tions of justice and humanity, which renders the Convention 
of Saratoga a matter of great moment ; and it is also, as 
you justl}' observe, an afl'air of iiitinite delicacy. The 
undoubted advantage they will take, even of the appearance 
of infraction on our part, and the American character, 
which is concerned in preserving its faith inviolate, cover 
this aiFair with ditiiculties, and prove the disadvantage we 
are under in conducting war against an old, corrupt, and 
powerful people, who, having much credit and influence in 
the world, will venture on things that would totally ruin the 
reputation of young and rising communities like ours. 

"The English, however," continues Mr. Lee, " were not to 
blame in the business of Closter-Seven. That convention 
was left incomplete by the commanders who made it. It 
was stipulated particularly that the Court of Versailles 
must ratify, and that within a certain time, which was not 
done until long after the time was elapsed, and before which 
ratification the troops of Hanover had returned to arms. 
Upon this occasion, the good faith of England is not im- 
peached." (Letters to Washington, II., 45, 46). 

The only protest against this act of Congress, which I 

have been able to find, by an American, at the tiuje, is the 

following manly remonstrance of the youthful Wilkinson, 

in a letter to General Gates, dated at Albany, January 15, 

]778. He was not yet twenty-one years of age, but had 

been the principal person employed by General Gates in the 

matter of the Convention, and his account of it is the most 

interesting and authentic of all. 

" It is reported liere, that Congress have prohibited General 
Burgoyne's embarkation until the conveution is ratified by his 
soveieign. I am equally hurt and alnruied by this inforniation, 
for I consider their detention inaduiissible in the spirit of the 



61 

treaty. I fear a timorous circumspection has sullied our reputa- 
tion, and injured our cause. The alternative, on General Biu- 
goyne's embarkation, must have been his landing in Great Britain, 
or violating the treaty. The consequences in either case would 
have been more important to us, than any thing which can noio 
happen. His arrival in Biitain would have more effectually 
stirred up commotions and manifested our prowess, than all the 
exaggerated paper representations which have been or can be 
exhibited ; and I believe it will be everywhere acknowledged, 
that so palpable a breach of the public faith, that basis of 
national tvanqnillity^ as a violation of a convention, would have 
drawn upon tlie nation the just odiutn of all Europe, and have 
multiplied our advocates pro])ortionably. 

"The most celebrated writers on the laws of nature arid of 
nations, hold that ' in all contests disputed by arms, whether 
seditions, insurrections, or rebellions, the public faith and the 
forms of war are to be held inviolable, else how can an accommo- 
dation ever take place, without the total extinction of one ]jarty.'* 
They further say, that when an army is invested, and all 
communication with its sovereign cut off, that every circumstance 
confei's on the commander the authority ot the state, and what- 
ever he conforms to, agreeable to the duties committed to his 
care, is promised in the name and by the authority of his 
sovereign, who is as fully obliged to perform it, as if he had 
promised it in his own person ; and that every commander of an 
army has a power of agreeing to the conditions on which the 
enemy admits his surrender ; the engagements entered into by 
him to save his life or his liberty, with that of his men, are valid, 
as made within the limits of his powers, and his sovereign cannot 
annul them." (Memoirs, I., 379, 380). 

Soon after the departure of General Burgoyne it was 
ordered that a division of tlie Convention troops, consisting 
wholly of the British, be removed to Ruthmd in the county 
of Worcester. General Washington in a letter to General 
Heath of the 25th March, from Yalley Forge, said, — " I 
hope that no time will be lost in removing General Bur- 
goyne's troops from Boston after the receipt of the resolu- 
tion of Congress for tliat purpose. If they remain within 
reach of that part of the enemies' force who are at 
Newport, I think it more than probable that they will make 
an effort to rescue them." (Sparks's Washington, V., 296). 

On the arrival of the British commissioners in the 



*Vattel, c. XII., ^^ 162, 163, 164. 



62 

coniitry a little later, tliey made, on the 7th of August, a 
"peremptory requisition" on the Congress that the Conven- 
tion troops be allowed to depart, agreeably to the second 
article of the treaty, saying they were ])ropared to renew, 
on the part of Great Britain, ;ill the stipulations of 
the said Convention.* Congress, however, on the 4th of 
Septeml)er recorded their refusal to comply, on the ground 
that the powers of the commissioners were insufficient, or 
might be controlled by parliament. 

Two weeks afterward Sir Henry Clinton, who had in 
May succeeded Sir Williaui Howe as commander-in-chief, 
and was also included in the commission for pacification, 
addressed the following letter to the president of Congress, 
dated New York, 19th September, 1778,— 

" Sir, Nothing but His Majesty's postive instructions, of which I 
send you an extract, could have induced me to ti-oul)le you or the 
Ainyrican Congress again on the subject of the troops detained 
in New Englaiul, in direct contravention of the treaty entered 
into at Saratoga. The neglect of the requisitions already made 
on this subject is altogether unprecedented among parties at war. 
I now however repeat the demand tliat the Convention of Sarato- 
ga be fulfilled ; and otFer by express and recent authority from the 
king, received since the date of the late requisition made by his 
Majesty's commissioners, to renew in his Majesty's name all the 
condiiions stipulated by Lieutenant General Burgoyne in respect 
to the troops serving under his command. 

" In this I mean to discharge my duty not only to the king, 
whose orders I obey, but to the unhappy people likewise whose 
affairs are conmiitted to you, and who I ho|)e will have the candor 
to acquit me of the consequences that must follow from the new 
system of war you ai'e pleased to introduce. I have the honor to 
be. Sir, Your most obedient and most liumble servant, 

" H. CLINTON. 

"To his Excellency Henry Laurens, Esq., President, and 
others, the members of the American Congress at Philadelphia." 

Congress replied to this communication as follows, under 

date of 28 September, 1778, — 

'"Sir, Your letter of the 19th was laid before Congress, and I 



* See " Collection of Papers * * relating to the proceeding.s of His Majesty's 
Commissioners." New York, James Riviugton, 1778. 



63 

am directed to inform you that the Congress of the United States 
of America make no answer to insolent letters. 

" I am with due respect, your obedient humble servant, 

" CHARLES THOMSON, Sec'y. 
" His Excellency, General Sir Henry Clinton, K. B., &c., &c., 
New York." 

The full benefit of the surrender at Saratoga, according to 
Washington's interpretation of the treaty, had now been 
received by the Congress, even if the troops had been placed 
immediately in the field — the time having passed when the 
mncli dreaded substitutes could have been sent out for the 
sj)riiig or even the fall campaign of 1778. 

The British continued to supply the Convention troops 

with provisions, agreeably to the arrangement made between 

General Pigot and General Heath. But soon after the resolve 

of Congress replying to the requisition of the commissioners, 

there was a cessation of supplies, and Congress on the 11th 

of September, resolved that unless passports are granted by 

Sir Henry Clinton to the American vessels to transport 

provisions for these troops, or provisions are sent in l)y him, 

the troops will be removed to some other place where they 

can more easily be provided with subsistence ; and on the 

16th of October they resolved that the town of Oharlotte- 

ville, in the county of Albemarle, in Virginia, be the place.* 

The long continuance of the troops near Boston had been 

very prejudical to the inhabitants. Their influence was 

bad upon the young, and particularly upon the students in 

the college in Cambridge. As Sir Henry Clinton did not 

seem disposed to yield in the matter required, the Conven- 

*■' When Clinton perceived tliat all negotiations with Congress were broken off, 
he declared thut if the Convention troops were to be treated like other prisoners, 
they must be supported by their captors. Hitherto the royal magazines had, 
furnished them the necessities of life, and the extravagant and unreasonable 
bills of the Americans for quarters, fuel, and other things had been paid. This 
was now to cease. Congress, therefore, not wishing to support the prisoners 
on the resources of a portion of the country already considerably exhausted by 
the French Fleet and the American Army, nothing else remained but to send 
the prisoners into that section of the country, which, by being farther removed 
from the theatre of war, had suffered less." (Eelkiug's Riedesel, ed. Stone, 
11., 45j. 

9 



64 

tion troops, on the 10th and 11th of November, took up 
their inarch for Virginia. 

There can be no doubt that the supi'eme authorit} in the 
State would always have the right, as it lias the power, to 
revise a treaty made by its agents, as in the ease we have 
been considering. This follows from tlie nature of sov- 
ereignty itself. An Arnold might be bribed to capitulate to 
the enemy. But where such treaties are entered into in 
good faith, and the obvious powers of the commanders have 
not been exceeded, the agreements between the victor and 
the vanquished are regarded by the higliest autliorities as to 
be sacredly kept. Humanity demands it, otherwise there 
would be no cessation of hostilities till the annihilation of 
both belligerents. 

Wheaton says, — " Grotius has devoted a whole chapter of 
his great work to prove by the consenting testimony of all 
ages and nations, that good faith ought to be observed 
towards an enemy. And even Bynkerslioek, who holds that 
every other sort of fraud may be practised towards liiin, 
prohibits perfidy, upon the ground that his character of 
enemy ceases by the compact witii him, so far as the terms 
of that compact extend. ' I allow of any kind of deceit,' 
said he, 'perfidy alone excepted, not because anything is 
unlawful against an enemy, but because when our faith has 
been pledged to him, so far as the promise extends, he 
ceases to be an enemy.' Indeed, without this mitigation, 
the horrors of war would be indefinite in extent and inter- 
minable in duration." (Lawrence's Wheaton, 6«4:). 

In conclusion, I cannot resist expressing the conviction 
which this survey of the doings of Congress in regard to 
the " Convention of Saratoga" forces upon me ; namely, 
that their acts are not marked by the highest exhibition of 
good policy or of good faith. 



APPENDIX TO THE COUNCIL'S REPORT. 



Preamble to the. Ensolvas of Congress relaling to General Burgoyne. 

KEPOliT OP A COMiMITTEEjS 

January 8, 1778,— three o'clock, P. M. 

Congress took iu coiisltU' ration the report of the committee, readjust 
before tlie adjonrnmeut this morning, which was as follows : 

"Th-.itfhe.y have considered, with mature attention, the convention 
entered into at Saratoga betwixt major-general Gates and lieutenant- 
general Burgoyne, in Oc:tober last, and find numbers of the cartouch 
boxes, and several other articles of military accoutrements, annexed to 
the persons of the non-com missioned officers and soldiers, in general 
Bnrgoyne's army, have not been delivered up, and that, agreeably to the 
spirit of the convention, and the technical interpretation of the word 
' arms,' they ought to have been delivered up : 

This opinion is warranted not only by the judgment of the most 
approved writers, bnt by the interpretation and practice of British 
officers in similar cases in the course of the present war, particularly 
iu the caplulation of St. John's on the 2d of November, 1775 : 

Your committee farther report, that there are so many other circum- 
stances attending the delivery of the arms and military stores, which 
excite strong suspicions that the convention has not been strictly com- 
plied with on the part of general Burgoyne, agreeably to its true spirit 
and intention of the contracting parties, and so many instances of former 
fraud in the conduct of our enemies, as to justify Congress, however 
cautious, to avoid even the suspicion of want of good faith, in taking 
every measure for securing the performance of the convention, which 
did not impose any new condition n^r tend to delay Its execution. Of this 
nature your committee consider the resolution "of Congress of the 8th 
of November last, directing general Heath 'to cause to be taken down, 
the name and rank of every commissioned officer, and the name, former 
place of aiiode, occupation, size, age, and description of every non- 
coinmi-^sioned ofHcer and private soldier, and all other persons compre- 
hended in the convention of Saratoga.' 

Tliis cannot be considered as imposing any new condition, but as a 
measure naturally resulting from the articles of convention, which tlie 
conquering party has a right to avail itself of, and which is strictly 
jusiifiablo, had no just suspicion of the want of good faith in the party 
surrendi-ring presenteil itself. Your committee are of opinion, that tlie 
reas(jns, wliicii general Burgoyne adduces for refusing a compliance, 
are inapplicable to the case, and they beg leave to observe, that he is 
totally mistaken in his appeal to the conduct of Sir Guy Carleton and 
himself with respect to the prisoners released from Canada in August, 
177(i: for, notwithstanding his express declaration to the contrary in 
his letter of the 23rd of November last to Gen. Heath, it appears from 
the oriirinal list of the prisoners released from Canada, which is here- 
with presented, that the provinces, counties and towns, to which the 



66 

prisoners released belonged, were annexed to their respective names, 
■vvliich, for the greater security of the conquiring party, were in tlie 
hard-writing of the respective prisoners. Your committee, therefore, 
cannot but consider general liurgoyne's refusal to give descriptive lists 
of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers belonging to his army, 
when connected with his former conduct and ill-grounded assertion on 
this occasion, in an alainiing point of view; more especially when they 
consider, that nine days previous to this refusal, he had, without just 
cause given, declared in a letter to general Gates, that the public faith, 
plighted in the convention of Saratoga, was broken on the part of these 
states : 

This charge of a breach of public faith is of a most serious nature, 
pregnant with alarming consequences, and deserves greater attention, 
as it is not dropped in a hasty expression, dictated by sudden passion, 
but is delivered as a deliberate act of judgmenl, committed to Avriting, 
and sent to the general with whom he made the convention ; and if 
credit is to be given to General Burgoyne's account of himself in his 
letter to general Heath of the 23rd of November, he cannot be consid- 
ered 'of so light a character as to have acted in a serious matter of 
state upon a sudden impression.' 

The reason on which he grounds this charge is that the officers 
included in the convention, have not since their arrival in Massachusetts 
Bay, been accommodated with quarters agieeable to their respective 
ranks : on which your committee beg leave to observe, that thougli from 
the sudden and unexpected arrival of so large a body of troops, the 
concourse of strangers in and near Boston, the devastation and 
destruction occasioned by the British army, not long since blocked up in 
that town, and by the American army which besieged them; and 
considering that the officers were not to be sepaiated from tlieirmen, 
and that the troops could not be quartered with equal convenience in 
any other place within the limits pointed out and described in the 
convention, as there are not a sufficient number of barracks in any other 
part of that state; though from these, and many other unavoidable 
circumstances, the accommodation of Gen. Burgoyne and his officers 
might not be such as the public could wish or he expect, yet, his charge 
of a bi-each of the public faith, on this account, is not warranted either 
by the letter of the preliminary articles agreed on between himself and 
Gen. Gates, on the I4th day of' October, or by the spirit of the conven- 
tion, signed on the 16th of the same mouth; since, by an examination 
of these articles, it will appear, that the stipulation, with respect to the 
quartering of officers, was not to be construed in that rigorous sense in 
which Gen. Buryoyne aflects to consider it; but. on the contrary, that 
it was 'agreed to as far as circumstances would admit.' 

Your committee forbear to lay any stress on the attempt of the enemy 
to alter the place of embarkation from the port of Boston to that of 
Rhode Island or the Sound so cf)ntiguous to the port of New York, 
which, as well as that of Rhode Island, is at present in their possession, 
on the seemingly inadequate number of vessels (being only 26 transports 
sent to Rhode Island, as appears in a letter from Gen. Bigot to Gen. 
Burgoyne, dated the 5th ot December) for an army consisting of 5642 
men, in a winter's voyage to Europe; or on the iniprol)ability of the 
enemy's being able, on so short a notice, to victual such a fleet and 
army for a voyage of such length; since the declaration of lieut. gen. 
Burgoyne, ' that the public faith is broke' is of itself sufficient to justify 
Congress in taking every measure for securing the performance of the 
convention, which the laws of nations, in consequence of this con- 
duct, win warrant. 

These facts and opinions, your committee, in a matter of such high 



67 

moment to the honor and safety of these states, esteem it their duty to 
report specially; and considering that Gen. Bursioyne has not fully 
complied with the convention of Saratoga, particularly in not delivering 
up the cartouch-boxes and accoutrements; that he has expressly, and 
without just foundation, charged these states with a breach of public 
faith; that, in consequence of this declaration, whilst in our power, he 
may deem himself, and the army under him, absolved froui their 
compact, and may. therefore, have refused couipiiauce with a measure 
naturally resulting from the convention, aud which only tended to 
render his olticers and men insecure in case the couventiou, on their 
part, was not complied with ; considering, farther, that from thedistauce 
between Auierica and Great Britain, there is no opportunity of accom- 
modating this dispute in any reasonable period of time with the 
sovereign of the state, in behalf of which this convention was made, 
aud that the operations of Gen. Hurgoyue's army in America would not 
only defeat the main object of the convention, but prove highly 
prejudicial to the interests of these states; your committee submit the 
whole to the consideration of ("ongre.ss, in order that such measures 
may be adopted as are consistent with the safety and honor of the 
United States." 

Whereupon Congress came to the following resdlutions.* (Journals 
of Congress). 

Despatch of Lieutenant-general Buryoyne to the President of the Con- 
gress. 

Cambridce, February 11. 1778. 

Sir, Having received from Major-genei'al Heath, on the 4th instant, 
minutes of the report of a Committee of Congress, and considerations 
and resolves subsequent thereupon, dated January the 8, 1778, I think 
myself called upon by public and private honor to ofler a reply to such 
parts as regard my personal conduct, together with other matters arising 
horn the explanation of facts. 

My state of health, and the anxieties of my situation, occasioned by 
some extraordinary occurrences here, render me very until for the 
undertaking; but I chose rather to hazard it in an impt-rfect state, than 
to procrastinate in a circumstance that scfms to me big with the most 
important consequences; and I commit the subsequent paper, Sir, to 
3 our hand, as the channel that I conceive to be most proper to lay it 
speedily before the Congress. 

'i'he first article in the proceedings referl-ed to states " That numbers 
of the cartoucli-boxes, and several other articles of military accoutre- 
menrs, annexed to the persons of the non-commissioned oflicers and 
soldiers in General Burgoyne's army, have not been delivered up, and 
that agreeable to the spirit of the Convention, and the lechuical interpre- 
tation of the vv(,rd -arms,' they ought to have been delivered up;'' and 
the resolve arising from tiiis article of the report expresses, "That as 
many of the cartouch-boxes, and several other articles of military accou- 
trements, annexed tO the persons of the non-commissioned otticers and 
soldiers included in the convention of Saratoga, have not been delivered 
up, the Convention on the part of the British army has not been strictly 
complied with." I de>ire to refer in this matter to the recollection of 
General Gates, and I rt'ly upon his justice to vindicate my assertion, 
that neither cartouch-boxes, nor any other article of accoutrements, 
agreeable to the spirit of the Convention, or the ' technical' or possible 
interpretation, could come under tlie word ' a?'»)js' were refused to be 
delivered up, or clandestinely carried away; the cartouch boxes, viz. 

' TliL-se i-f solutions are ijiiuteil on pages 42, 43. 



G8 

those that are technically interpreted arms, or military stores, because 
delivered from the Tower of London with every new set of tirelocks 
and bayonets, were by most regiments left in Canada, as less conve- 
nient than i)ouches ; the cartonch-boxes that remained were only those of 
the liiiht infantry companies; several of them were actually deposited 
with the arms; and the very few others were carried, away under the 
eyes and with th« knowledge of General Gates. 

The Conirress having dwelt particularly upon this charge, both in the 
report and the resolve, I trust I am justiliable in pressing further upon 
their attention the report of the officer who carried a message to the 
troops, in consequence of a conversation between General Gates and 
Major-general Phillips (No. I.), which clearly demonstrates the first 
sense General Gates entertained of the whole transaction : and the 
I'eport of Lieutenant-colonel Kingston, the Deputy Adjutant-general 
(No. II.), which refers to the time when the troops passed by General 
Gates on their march, witli all their accoutrements upon their backs, 
some hours after the above message, makes the Gi'neral's participation, 
consent and approbation, after reflection, equally evident. 

The Couimittee, in the next article, mention " other circumstances 
attending the deliverj^ of the arms and military stores, which excite 
strong suspicions thilt the convention has noi been strictly complied 
with on the part of General Burgoyne, agreeable to its true spirit, and 
the intention of the contracting parties." 

The Congress will be too just to lay any censure upon me for not 
answering an allegation propounded in such general terms, and the 
objects of which I do not comprehend. As little is it in my power to 
conceive the objects alluded to by the words of the same paragraph, 
"former frauds in the conduct of our enemies." My consternaiion in 
finding the British honor in treaties impeached, is the only seutiuient I 
can express upon the Mdiject. 

The Committee proceed to state as a necessary measure for securing 
the performance of the Convention, " tlie resolutions of Congress of the 
8th of November last, directing General Heath to cause to be taken 
down the names ami rank of eveiy commissioned officer, and the name, 
former place of abode, occupation, size, age, and description of every 
non-commissioned officer, private soldier, and all other persons compre- 
hended in the Convention of Saratoga." 

It might be thougiit improper in uie to renew the arguments used in 
my letter to Major-G'eneral Heath, dated November the 2;id. which has 
been already under the consideration of the Congi'ess, and upon which 
they have derided, respecting the iuiposing new conditions, by insisting 
upon tiu' (lesciiptive list; but I am under the necc^ssity of representing 
that the committee have not attended to the words of my letter, when 
they observe, " I am totally mistaken in my appeal " I do not mean to 
deny that the prisoners' names, countries, and towns were taken down 
in Canada. I always knew* they were, and for this plain reason, that 
they bound themselves to return to Canada upon a demand, and it was 
therefore necessary to know their abodes. 

The Committee do not stale that descriptive lists were taken, and I 
bilieve them too accurate to have omitted a circumstance so mateiial 
to make the cases parallel; but were it otherwise in any instances to 
which I have been a stranger in Canada, I, venture still to persevere in 
my assertions, that in those instances where I was present, descriptive 
lists were not made at all, nor any lists or signatures proposed, upon 
suspicion of public faiih, or any other ground than that above specitied, 
of ascertaining the prisoners, and the place where they were to be 
found, in case it should be judged expedient to recall them. 

It will be for the candor and justice of the Congress to consider, that 



69 

in my letter to Major-aeneral Heath, dated November the 23d, my 
rofuMil was founded solely on this idea, that the application was dislion- 
orable anil unprecedented; and as a further proot tliat the ConiuHttee 
have placed this refusal in a point of view more alarniini'' than it 
deserves, I beg leave to refer the Congress to other letters which passed 
between General Heath and n)e upon this subject (No. III. and IV.) and 
they will tind that when a precedent was produced, f only required time 
to convince myself the parallel held: and though from an unhappy affair, 
to which my time has been necessarily devoted, and the period for the 
delivery of such lists not pressing, I withheld my final answer, I am 
persuatled General Heath, and those of his otticers with whom 1 have 
conversed upon the subject, plainly saw I meant to comply upon the 
precedent, as stated in his letter of the 21st of Jauuarj'. 

I confess. Sir, that feeling for the honor of Sir Guy Carlton, who 
commanded in Canada at the time, as every man does who knows him, 
I find it impossible to leave unm^tieed the matter General Heath has 
thought proper to intermix with his precedent, in the letter referred to; 
and I lake leave, for one moment's digression, to observe, that our own 
officers, of all ranks, in the laiul service, are allowed no more than three 
quarters of a ration on board any of our ships, nor is any distinction of 
ration made for our officers of any rank, it being supposed that they 
supply themselves, at their private expense, with different fare. 

The Committee have thought proper to blend with their ouservaLion 
upon my refusal of descriptive lists, my former conduct, and more 
especially the consideration, "that nine days previous to this refusal. J 
had, without just cause given, declared, in a letter to General Gates, that 
the public faith, plighted in the Convention of Saratoga, was broken on 
the part of the States;" 'and great stress is laid that iny declaraiion was 
not dropped in a hasty expression, dictated by sudden passion, but is 
delivered as a deliberate act of judgment. 

I am so unfortunate not to have preserved any copy of a letter stated 
to be of such serious consequence, but that very circumstance joined to 
the conscious rectitude of my own Intentions, is to myself a proof that 
it cannot bear the interpretation the Committee give it, if taken upon 
the general context. 

I well remember that I meant to inform General Gates, that the treaty 
was not complied with in respect to the stipulation of quartering 
officers; and in whatever words I may have expressed that idea, though 
I do not retain them in my memory, I will venture to pronounce, that 
upon an impartial revision, and compared with attendant circumstances, 
they will be found to amount to no more than a call upon General Gates 
to see the complaint redressed. 

To prove that such a call was warranted, I transmit herewith (No. V.) 
the reports of the British and German corps, both respecting the officers 
and the men, and to mark that I did not consider the article of the 
treaty, in this respect, in a rigorous sense, as the Committee suppose 
me to have done; but in the latitude thej' themselves give it upon the 
words " as far as circumstances would admit." I cannot forbear to 
represent, that notwithstanding the concourse of strangers, the late 
devastation and destruction of the neighborhood, and every other 
circumstance the Committee have been informed of, in extenuation of 
the treatment of the troops, circumstances did fully admit the accom- 
modation of officers. There were, at the time of the above complaint, 
houses more than sufficient for the purpose; some of them as I have 
been informed, under sequestration, and possessed only by tenants at 
will, over which the Council of the Massachusetts had, consequently, 
control, others possessed by persons who would have been willing to 
receive officers, had they not have been prevented by the Committee of 



70 

Carabrid2:e; and durinj? this time, after heina: pressed into Camliridge 
throngli b:td weather, inconvenience and fatigue, withnnt any prepara- 
tion made to receive tlie superior ollict-rs, I was h)d:4ed in a miserable 
public house; and in ill-liealth, obliged to partalie witli Major-General 
Phillips, two very small dirty rooms for ourselves, our Aid-de-camps, 
and the staff of the army then present, having been amused, from day 
to day, for near a fortnight, with the expectation of proper accommo- 
dations, I was only at last relieved by consenting to pay, upon a private 
bargain, a larger sum for an unfurnished house out of repair, than would 
have been required for a palace in the dearest metropolis of the world. 
And under these circumstances I wrote to General Gates. Had they 
been known to the Committee at the time they formed their report, they 
would probably have spared a sarcasm upon my letter, and have 
supposed I might have tlropped a hasty and unguarded expression. 
Should any further refutation of this charge be thought necessary, I re- 
fer to the circumstances of the otticers consenting to sign their parole 
after the date of my letter to General Gates, they having previously 
refused so to do, upon presumption that the stipulations in regard to 
their quarters were abused. Upon the faith of General Heath, I made 
myself guarantee for the fultilling of the treaty in the only part com- 
plained of; and the act of signing by a ireneral concurrence, cannot but 
be looked upon as the fullest proof of contirniation and ratitication on 
our part, and wlien considered, nmst obliterate every impression rela- 
tive to our thinking ourselves absolved from our former compact. 

The Committee not having (irofessed to lay any stress on the attempt 
(as they think proper to term it) " to alter the place of embarkation, or 
on the seemingly inadequate number of vessels at Rhode Island, or on 
the iriiproliabiiity of biing able to victual the fleet and army for a voyage 
of such length ;"' and the plan of this address being only to answer matter 
relative to myself, I might waive touching those subjects, but trust it 
will not be thought misplaced to remark, that General Pigot's letter, to 
which the Committee refer, mentions, that twenty-six transports from 
the Delaware, were off the harbor's mouth, at Rhode Island, but no 
expression in the letter implies, that the fleet was not to consist of more 
from New York, or any otlier place; and in regard to the victualling, I 
not oidy pledge my own veracity, but that of the most high and repu- 
table characters at Rhode I-land, that the fleet was fully victualled for 
four months, for the whole of the land army and seamen. 

After these explanations and answers to the several charges contained 
in the Report &c., I trust no words of so harsh a nature, as to imply a 
distrust of my personal honor, will be sutt'ered to remain in the Journals 
of Congress. 

But should any doubt still subsist, that the idea of being released 
from the engagements of the Convention has been adopted by any part 
of the troops, I am confident there is not any officer who will not join 
his signature to mine for a further pledge of faith, provided the suspen- 
sion is immediately taken ofl'; and animated by the most substantial 
principles of truth and honor, I propose to the Congress this last 
experiment within my power, to restore the mutual confidence of the 
contracting parties in the Convention of Saratoga, and to save at once 
Great Britain and America from yet more serious evils than we recipro- 
cally endure in the prosecution of our unhappy contest. (Almon's 
Remembrancer, VI., 153-157). 



71 

No. I. 

Hepnrt of Liputc.nant Nohle, actiiuf Aid-de-Camp to Major- General 
rhiUipfi : — 

In the course of conversiitioii at Saratoga, Octo))er 17, 1777, I heard 
Major-Geiieral Gates say, that he did not mean to injure private prop- 
erty ; and as the colonels would sutler by the loss of their accoutre- 
ments, the soldiers mijiht take them. I was the ohicer sent to the 
Commanding officers to tell them the soldiers were to keep their 
accoutrements; they had taken them ofl' with a design to leave them 
behind, and upon my delivering the message, they put them on again. 
This was before dinner. Major-General Phillips and Major-General 
Gates were together. 

(Signed) WM. NOBLE, Lieut. 21st Reg. 

No. IL 
Conversation Jietioeen Major- (reneral (ratea and Lieutenant- Colonel 
Kingston. 

At the conversation [convention] of Saratoga, October, 17, 1777, when 
the troops marched by with their accoutrements, General Gates asked 
me if it was not customary for arms and accoutrements to go togethei", 
— Replying, that the accoutrements were the colonels' and private 
property, General Gates said, very true; they are yours as such, and 
because we have not mentioned them in the convention. 

(Signed) ROBERT KINGSTON, D. A. G. 

Nos. IIL, IV. & V. 
The letters and documents to which these numbers refer are not 
reprinted here, as the points which they are intended to illustrate are 
sufficiently treated in the papers already printed. They may be found 
in Almon's Remembrancer, VI., 15S. 



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